OpenAI Backs Its First AI-Driven Full-Length Animated Movie

OpenAI is stepping into the movie business with its first animated feature powered largely by artificial intelligence.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the project, called Critterz, is being developed with the help of OpenAI tools and is set to be finished in record time compared to traditional Hollywood productions.

The film follows a group of forest animals whose lives are shaken when a mysterious outsider appears in their village.

The idea came from Chad Nelson, a creative specialist at OpenAI, who started building the characters three years ago using the company’s image generator DALL-E. What began as a short film experiment is now being turned into a full-length feature.

One of the main goals of Critterz is to show that animated films can be made faster and at a much lower cost with the help of AI. The production budget is less than $30 million, and the team hopes to complete the film in just nine months.

That is a fraction of the usual cost and timeline of big animated movies. Nelson said OpenAI wants to prove that if this works, more studios could embrace AI as part of their process.

London-based Vertigo Films and Los Angeles studio Native Foreign are handling production. Native Foreign, which has experience blending AI with traditional video work, previously worked with Nelson on a short version of Critterz. That version used DALL-E for the visuals and limited animation to bring the animals to life.

For this feature-length movie, human talent is still a key part of the project. Voice actors will perform the roles, and artists will sketch designs that will then be processed through OpenAI’s chat and image tools. The screenplay was written by the same team behind Paddington in Peru, and the producers hope to debut the finished film at the Cannes Film Festival next May.

The move comes during a heated debate in Hollywood about the use of AI. In 2023, actors’ union SAG-AFTRA went on strike partly over concerns about studios using AI without consent. The strike ended with a deal that requires studios to get permission and pay actors if their likenesses are digitally reproduced.

At the same time, AI companies are facing lawsuits from writers, artists, and studios worried about how their work is being used to train these tools.

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