OpenAI is making a full-length AI movie, and it’s set to debut at Cannes

OpenAI is lending its tools and computational resources for the creation of a full-length animated film that is being made largely with AI and is expected to be released globally next year, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

The movie, named “Critterz,” is said to be about forest creatures who go on an adventure after their village is disrupted by a stranger. It is the brainchild of Chad Nelson, a creative specialist at OpenAI, who first made a short film of the same name using the DALL-E 2 image-generation model.

Nelson has reportedly teamed up with production companies in London and Los Angeles to debut the full-length feature film at the Cannes Film Festival in May next year.

OpenAI reportedly wants to make the movie faster and cheaper than Hollywood studios, with a planned time of around 9 months instead of the around 3 years it would take a typical full-length film to make.

The movie is being produced by London-based Vertigo Films along with Native Foreign, a studio that is said to specialize in using AI with traditional video production tools.

Vertigo’s parent company, Federation Studios, is funding the project, and the studio is said to have developed a compensation model where around 30 people working on the film will share in any profits.

The script for “Critterz” has been written by some members of the team who also wrote “Paddington in Peru.” The production for the film has begun, and casting decisions for the voices of the characters will be made in the next few weeks.

Why is OpenAI making a film?

The bet from OpenAI‘s perspective is that if “Critterz” is successful, it will show that AI can deliver strong content for the big screen while also accelerating the adoption of technology in Hollywood.

“OpenAI can say what its tools do all day long, but it’s much more impactful if someone does it,” Nelson said.

“That’s a much better case study than my building a demo,” he added.

Top entertainment companies have already begun experimenting with the use of AI in their movies and TV shows. Netflix recently also released a set of guidelines for its creators to follow while using AI in their work.

Meanwhile, Disney and Universal have also sued AI companies like Midjourney for allegedly making copies of their copyrighted work.