Ever since the introduction of AI-generated content, we’ve been seeing several bad, janky, and uncanny bits of media invade our social media feeds. However, major tech brand TCL has taken this to the next level. TCL just released a dreadful-looking AI-generated movie trailer.

TCL released the trailer for its AI-generated movie

It is currently April 12th, however, this trailer looks like it should have been posted on April Fool’s Day. The company showcased a trailer to be released on TCLtv+. In the trailer, it becomes painfully obvious right away that this was all generated using AI. Not only was it AI-generated, but it looked several steps behind the kind of content we saw with OpenAI’s Sora.

TCL is, unironically, going to stream a movie with fully AI-generated imagery. The movie is called Next Stop, Paris, and it seems like your typical Christmas romance without the snow. Basically, a woman travels to Paris with her fiance for her honeymoon. However, she meets a handsome stranger. Any person who has seen more than one romantic comedy should know where this is going.

This movie was “AI-powered”

You have to appreciate TCL’s turn of phrase for this movie. While most of us would say AI-generated, TCL says that it is “AI-powered.” Feel free to roll your eyes after reading that. It’s obvious that the company relied heavily on AI imagery for the footage.

However, we have to give the company credit where it’s due; it used human writers and human voice actors. Also, TCL used human motion capture to go along with the boiling and shifting imagery. So, it’s nice to see that the company didn’t rely solely on AI technology.

But, that’s not the point

This sort of thing hints at a pretty dark future for content and media. There’s no mincing words here, this movie looks plain BAD! We will not be able to see past the poorly generated visuals to pay attention to the story. However, a reputable tech company is releasing this as an actual movie.

Undoubtedly, TCL paid a fraction of the price to produce Next Stop, Paris than it would have if it hired an actual crew. So, if it makes any money from this movie, it will have a higher possibility of making true profit. Congratulations, TCL, you’ve just opened the door for other studios to do the same!

We are already fearing AI technology making it into Hollywood. Well, Hollywood isn’t the only source of movies and TV shows. We’re fed content through streaming services, and many of them spend the money to make original content like Netflix, Hulu, Disney, Apple, Amazon, etc.

However, we also get our content from sources that don’t intrinsically produce content. These are TV makers and platforms that are designed to feed you content from streaming services (TCLtv+ is one of them). These companies don’t make their own content because it’s a massive expense and it doesn’t flow with their business structure.

Now, being able to cheaply throw together AI productions and distribute them on their services could be the next industry trend. It’ll only be a matter of time before we see more movies like Next Stop, Paris hit the screens. The only question is how long until we find ourselves flipping through Netflix for 20 minutes just to find one show or movie that is not AI-generated?

Apr 12, 2024