Artists and animators frustrated by the rise of artificial intelligence will be thrilled to see Illumination’s Super Bowl ad for Despicable Me 4, which uses the infamous yellow Minion to swipe new technology.
The ad is narrated by Jon Hamm and features various AI-generated photos, including Despicable Me stars Steve Carell and Will Ferrell in Elizabethan royal costumes. It explains how artificial intelligence will “change the way we see the world.”
But as more photos appear, you’ll notice semi-obvious drawing errors familiar to anyone who’s used an AI image generator. It turns out that these errors are caused by the images being created by the minions rather than by a computer algorithm.
The ad comes months after Illumination CEO and “Despicable Me” producer Chris Meledandri spoke about the role of artificial intelligence in animation on the podcast “The City with Matthew Belloni.” Meledandri cited former Disney Animation head and DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, who predicted that AI will significantly reduce the number of human animators hired on projects.
“AI will be used as a tool, but even if elements of AI are used, what I’m really talking about is movies that are truly driven by the artists,” he said. . “If we get to that point, [Katzenberg’s] As the numbers show, there will be problems in our society that go far beyond animation. ”
“Despicable Me 4” will be released in theaters on July 3rd.
