OpenAI Submits AI-Generated Feature Animation 'Critterz' to Cannes Film Festival

Artificial intelligence service provider OpenAI plans to submit a feature animation film created using AI tools to the Cannes Film Festival next May, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 7th (local time). This is seen as an attempt to prove that generative AI can produce films faster and cheaper than Hollywood.

OpenAI is providing its tools and computing resources for the production of the feature animation 〈Critterz〉. This work, featuring forest characters, was conceived by Chad Nelson, who is part of OpenAI, and it expands a short animation he started producing in 2022 using the image generation tool 'DALL·E', completing it in 2023.

Nelson is collaborating with the London-based film production company 'Vertigo Films' and the Los Angeles-based studio 'Native Foreign' for the feature production. Native Foreign is a studio specialized in combining AI and traditional video production tools, and it was responsible for the production of the 2023 short 'Critterz'.

It shows a significant difference in production speed and cost compared to traditional animation production. James Richardson, co-founder of Vertigo Films, explained, "Typically, it takes about three years to produce a feature animation film, but the Critterz production team aims to complete it in about nine months," adding that the production budget is significantly lower than the usual feature animation, at under $30 million (4.2 billion won).

The production team has clearly defined the roles of humans and AI. Human actors will voice the characters, while human artists will create sketches to be input into GPT-5 and the image generation tools. Nick Kleberoff, co-founder and creative director of Native Foreign, explained, "This greatly increases the possibility of copyright protection."

Nelson told WSJ, "OpenAI could explain all day what our tools do, but when someone actually does it, the impact is much greater," adding that it becomes a much better case study than just a demo production.

The production team has moved beyond pre-production and entered the production stage, with character voice casting to be decided in the coming weeks. The script work is being handled by some writers from the 2024 film 〈Paddington: Going to Peru!〉. Funding is provided by Federation Studios, the parent company of Vertigo Films, based in Paris.

Nelson reported that the participating studios are developing a compensation model that shares profits with about 30 people involved in the production when profits are generated. However, WSJ reported that OpenAI's marketing support is still uncertain.

The entertainment industry is taking a cautious stance on the use of AI tools. Companies like Disney and Netflix are experimenting with AI tools in various areas such as production, user experience, and marketing, but they are hesitant about full-scale adoption. Concerns from actor and writer organizations and copyright issues are major reasons.

According to copyright law, the author must be human, so works created solely by AI are excluded from copyright protection. Recently, there has been an increase in cases where entertainment companies are filing lawsuits against AI service providers like Midjourney for unauthorized reproduction damages.