Update, June 22, 2023: Method Studios, the company behind Secret Invasion’s AI-driven opening-credits sequence, said using the software cost “no artists’ jobs,†per Hollywood Reporter. “AI is just one tool among the array of tool sets our artists used,†the statement read. “No artists’ jobs were replaced by incorporating these new tools; instead, they complemented and assisted our creative teams.†The studio added that the opening involved a traditional team consisting of art directors, animators, and other artists. So the opening sequence just looks like that on purpose? Oh …
Original story published June 21 follows.
Disney sure got on the AI train quick. The opening-credits sequence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest show, Secret Invasion, was generated by AI. It’s an emerald-green-tinted collection of misshapen figures and blurry tableaux rendered in a Surrealist, painterly style that’s off-putting because of its uncanny little details such as arms being too long, missing hands, and asymmetrical eyes. And apparently that’s what they were all going for. Director and executive producer Ali Selim told Polygon that the concept was “Skrull cubism,†to play into the concept of the shape-shifting creatures that steal faces, terrorize the world, and continue their — shh! — secret invasion. Selim also believes the AI of it all plays into the themes of the show. “When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it — it just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this?†he said while also admitting he doesn’t know how AI works but was happy to hire Method Studios to help generate the sequence. “We would talk to them about ideas and themes and words, and then the computer would go off and do something,†he added. “And then we could change it a little bit by using words, and it would change.â€
Well, we hope Selim knows that AI was just using a composite of already existing material to generate content, meaning the opening sequence is just a computerized riff on whatever the machine read as “Skrull cubism†and simply an aggregation of swiped ideas. Considering Disney is so quick to utilize the software while striking writers are fighting to create protections against AI churning out scripts, it looks as though AI’s not-so-secret invasion has claimed another victim.