Amazon MGM Studios recently greenlit three animated series made with generative artificial intelligence (AI), but one of the creators, Jorge R. Gutierrez (creator of ‘The Book of Life’), has already backed out after receiving backlash.
Acclaimed Mexican animator, writer and director Jorge R. Gutierrez, on May 29 — merely two days after Amazon’s announcement — posted on social media platform X that he has “decided to drop out” of the company’s GenAI Creators’ Fund due to criticism from fans and creative peers alike.
Gutierrez is the creator behind some of the most beloved cartoons steeped with Mexican culture, including ‘The Book of Life’, the Nickelodeon animated series ‘El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera’, and Netflix’s ‘Maya and the Three’, the latter two of which he co-created with his wife Sandra Equihua.
He was supposed to make ‘Punky Duck’ for Amazon’s AI program — a series about a “lovable punk duck and his best friend, Smiley Cat,” and their adventures in a “wildly exaggerated” Los Angeles where they encounter aliens, giant monsters, and robots.
What is Amazon’s GenAI Creators’ Fund?
Introduced as a partnership between Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the GenAI Creators’ Fund seeks to provide creators of “all styles and backgrounds access to professional-grade AI tools and funding,” the company said in its press release.
It will be powered by Project Nara, an AI production platform built on AWS and used exclusively by Amazon MGM and creators under the fund to produce animated and live-action films and series.
The platform, trained on the studios’ intellectual property, integrates AI with other, more traditional software such as Maya, Blender, Nuke, Unreal Engine, and Adobe Suite, according to IndieWire.
Unlike other AI models like Sora and Midjourney, Project Nara works similarly to ComfyUI and Google’s Flow, granting its users more control over their creations instead of repeatedly writing a prompt and hoping for the best.
Amazon MGM said this technology mirrors its core belief that “human creativity leads, and AI supports.”
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AI animation process a ‘life-changer’ – Gutierrez
When Amazon announced the fund during its AI on the Lot conference on May 27, Gutierrez described the AI animation experience as like “having sex and then they hand you the baby.”
“I’m used to two years for a pilot, and something like this… it feels like the most rebellious, punk rock thing you can do right now is to make something fast,” he said, adding that it has been a “life-changer.”
The pilot concept for ‘Punky Duck’ took five weeks to finish, said Gutierrez, who designed the characters himself, thus adopting a similar stop-motion style as his past works.
Gutierrez also told Cartoon Brew that “artists driving tech” is his goal and “not the other way around.”
“It’s a big experiment for and I will be as cautious as possible with AI,” he added.
However, as the news quickly spread across the animation sphere, and fans and professionals expressed their distaste for generative AI and its effects in the already struggling industry, Gutierrez changed his tune.
‘Actions speak louder than words’
He initially released a strongly worded statement warning people to leave his family out of the issue, stressing that any threats against his wife and son will not be tolerated.
Shortly after that post, Gutierrez expressed his gratitude to those who have shown him grace and stated that he is “learning a lot” from them regarding the matter.
“I absolutely understand the concern of using AI to assist an animation pipeline… I have a lot to think about.”
His decision to leave the fund came out afterwards.
“I will not be making a Punky Duck series. Actions speak louder than words,” he said.
“My intent was to showcase artists, both new and seasoned, both inside and outside the studios, driving this new tech.
“My sincerest apology to those I upset. I promise to do better moving forward. Thank you for your patience with me. I will try harder.”
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‘Cupcake & Friends’ and ‘Love, Diana Music Hunters’
With Gutierrez now out of the program, only two of the three series are left: ‘Cupcake & Friends’ from Buzzfeed Studios and ‘Love, Diana Music Hunters’ from former Nickelodeon president of entertainment and current pocket.watch chief content officer Albie Hecht.
Original creator of ‘Cupcake & Friends’ Loryn Brantz is not happy about this development, however, saying that she is “horrified and disgusted” by BuzzFeed for taking her character and giving it to an AI platform.
Brantz, a former BuzzFeed employee, worked with the company to produce an eight-episode webseries about Cuppy, an anthropomorphic cupcake character who gives advice on a variety of things in a funny and quirky manner that has appealed to millions online after it went viral in 2017.
In an Instagram post, Brantz said BuzzFeed “repeatedly assured” her that “they would never do anything with Cuppy without my input, yet offered me no legal options, insisting that I would never need them.”
Brantz added that upon hearing about the talks happening early on, she pleaded with former chief executive and president of BuzzFeed AI Jonah Peretti to discontinue the plan.
But Peretti tried to convince her to sign a non-disclosure agreement instead.
“This is an assault on artists everywhere,” wrote Brantz, who said that Cuppy is based on her own personality.
“I encourage you to boycott BuzzFeed and any AI-produced or adjacent animation.”
Responding to Brantz, BuzzFeed told WIRED that the company “owns the Cuppy IP, not Loryn, who is a former employee.”
Peretti echoed the comment and said: “[Brantz’s] personal opposition to AI cannot determine how BuzzFeed develops IP that it owns, or deny the many other talented creators involved in this project the opportunity to do their work.”
Amazon’s AI-powered animated shows come at a time when the divisive technology is slowly starting to become increasingly prevalent in the filmmaking space.
Those working in animation, CGI and special effects often feel the negative impacts as studios praise their innovativeness and the reduced cost and time in production.
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