Lucasfilm Creates a Documentary-Style ‘Star Wars’ Short Using AI, Fans Are Outraged

The use of artificial intelligence in art has been a hot topic for some time now. Studios are becoming more open to using AI because it’s cheaper than actual humans, while artists are against it because it takes their jobs from them.

Of course, a certain level of human interaction is always going to be necessary, but the studios want to cut it down to a minimum. This was one of the major issues during the former SAG-AFTRA strike, as well as the current one related to the gaming industry.

But, what are the fans saying? They are the ones who are consuming the products ultimately, so what is their stance on the whole issue? Well, the recent Star Wars-related story might reveal that.

Before we continue, here is a video we’d like you to see:

The person in the video is Lucasfilm’s senior vice president of creative innovation Rob Bredow, and he talked about the use of AI in filmmaking, especially in the Star Wars franchise.

If you watch the whole thing, you will notice that he is showing us clips from a short documentary-style Star Wars movie that was created solely using AI. As we are looking at the footage, Bredow is asking us “what happens when you put the latest AI tools in the hands of artists? What does it do to their imagination?”

The video shows a probe droid exploring a new planet in the Star Wars universe. He encounters various creatures, which are basically AI-generated mixtures of known animals. “It’s pretty fun to see artists’ expression leveraging the latest new tools,” Bredow said about the video, but the fans aren’t satisfied.

“None of those creatures look like they belong in Star Wars. They are all clearly two earth animals fused together in the most basic way.”; “The ai video was the same slop we’ve been seeing for ages now.”; “Dude, it’s not impressive if a 14-year-old can do it on their smartphone.” – these are just some of the overwhelmingly negative comments below the video.

And we agree. This is not art. This is not even creative or imaginative. This is just being lazy and cheap, and it is horrible if (major) studios want to head in that direction in the future. And it’s not just the human side of it – it’s the artistic one as well.

The video looks better than most AI videos, but that’s not the point. The quality of the illusion makes the process all the more horrible and we hope that the future of filmmaking will not depend on AI and that such videos will become obsolete, rather than a rule.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!