Gossip Goblin, the online moniker for a filmmaker named Zack London, is in the latter camp, and he may be about to have his big break.
Who or what is Gossip Goblin?
And why should you care?
Zack London started posting AI-generated videos to YouTube and elsewhere on the internet around 2023, when interest in AI-generated images and video was taking off. He and his team use a variety of AI tools to generate short videos set in a strange sci-fi universe. In this universe, humanity is a space-faring civilization that routinely reaches the heights of technological progress, misuses technology in a way that collapses their civilization, and then moves to a new planet to try it again. It's called "the 13 Cycles of Humanity."
Many of London's videos are set in the Second Cycle of Humanity, where we humans augment our bodies with machinery and rewrite our genomes with the aim of becoming immortal. But in doing so, we leave behind much of what made us human in the first place. What does human desire look like when the body that produced many of those desires is gone? How much of the soul is tied to our body, and do we leave it behind when we chase life everlasting?
Up until now, London mostly produced short-form videos, generally just a couple of minutes long apiece. But now, he's ready to debut a full feature film set during the Second Cycle of Humanity: Gods Don't Give Gifts. The 104-minute movie is set on the world of Niiro Cradle, "where bodies are disposable and consciousness has been commoditized." It will tell "four interconnected stories [that] collide with the horrifying consequences of humanity’s attempt to transcend the flesh."
How worried should Hollywood be over Gods Don't Give Gifts?
Humans are still involved, but...
Gods Don't Give Gifts will be in select theaters in the U.S. and the UK on Friday, December 4. It's not the first AI movie to screen in theaters, but is the first to screen in this many, even though it's still not getting a wide release. The trailer is already in theaters, the movie is the first AI film to receive at MPA rating (R), and there will be a campaign to get it nominated in the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars.
To filmmakers who think AI is here to take their jobs, these signs of legitimacy may be unnerving, although we should note that Gossip Goblin's movies aren't made entirely with AI. The scripts are written by people, human voice actors voice the characters, the music is written is by a human composer, and the videos are edited like a traditional movie. There's even a foley artist who creates sound effects. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in March, London speculated that eventually he'd like to employ human actors to do motion capture, but the technology isn't there yet.
Still, the visuals are generated by AI, with London and his team using a variety of tools. They spend a lot of time creating hundreds or thousands of images and clips before stringing them together into a full video, but this process still eliminates the need for set dressers, set designers, cinematographers, costumers, and many other professionals. People in Hollywood could be forgiven for being worried.
The Gossip Goblin difference
Gods Don't Give Gifts represents the next step
Hollywood studios are already incorporating AI into their work. Netflix acquired an AI studio called InterPositive to help with visual effects, lighting, and backgrounds. Amazon MGM appointed executive Albert Cheng to help spearhead AI initiatives at the company, lead AI Studios to accelerate pipeline workflows. Google DeepMind partnered with A24 to create AI filmmaking tools, and so on.
But most of these initiatives will merely augment traditional filmmaking; Gossip Goblin's movies represent something more radical. If Gods Don't Give Gifts is a success in its limited run, it could inspire other people to push further. Eventually, there could be multiple "traditional" movies in theaters alongside ones made with heavy AI use. Whether that's better or worse than what we have now, we'll have to wait and see.
Gossip Goblin knows how to use AI right
Many AI videos online are dismissed as "slop," and in a lot of cases, it's hard to argue with the label. What makes Gossip Goblin's work different is that it does seem to have personality and life behind it.
Also, it leans into the unique quirks of AI video. As you can see in the trailers and images, Gossip Goblin's videos are not going for a photo-realistic look; if they did, they probably wouldn't be as possible. With their synthetic textures and uncanny faces, they look strange and off-putting. In a lot of contexts, that would be a knock against them, but it's weirdly appropriate for the 13 Cycles of Humanity, which is about the grotesque, horrific spectacle that results when human beings use technology to warp themselves into something alien.
In short, Gossip Goblin has found a way to make the disturbing aspects of AI video work for him, which is why Gods Don't Give Gifts stands a chance at catching on. Gossip Goblin already has millions of followers online. If this movement goes mainstream, there's no telling where it could take the entertainment industry.
Auto 
2 weeks ago
2 
Credit: Lucas Gouveia / MakeUseOf
