TV manufacturing conglomerate TCL has just announced plans to release the first ever fully AI-generated TV movie special. It's called Next Stop Paris, because of course it is. Here's the official synopsis (which may as well be AI-generated, if it's not already).
Next Stop Paris opens with a young woman on a train, who despite being heartbroken that her fiancé ran off with someone in her wedding party, has decided to go to her Paris honeymoon destination solo. While on board she meets a mysterious stranger, and their love story blossoms as they explore "the city of lights" together.
The movie was "developed in house and written" by Chris Regina, the company's Chief Content Officer and Daniel Smith, Chief Creative Officer. A press release boasts that "Both executives have a deep background in program development at established media companies and Hollywood studios." Because surely executives know better than creatives how to, ya know, create things. The company further defends the bizarrely stunted uncanny valley project as "an early experiment bringing tech and creative together in a hybrid entertainment format" that "will The AI technology used to create these characters and fictional world "allows the creative teams to push boundaries and invigorate the viewer experience, while also creating new opportunities for marketing partners," all of which are definitely words that signpost meanings of some sort.
In an interview with Broadcasting+Cable, Regina (the executive created as "creator") added that, "Content is king as we've seen through history [citation needed]," while insisting that:
We are not looking to replace people. This is still very much a human practice. We're using writers. We're using actors and animators. We've been really fortunate to find a lot of great talent out there who weren't working that have become part of our team.
All of which would seem to contradict the claims of being a fully AI-generated movie. Unless, of course, this is all just a cynical short-term cash grab by a media conglomerate that's only doing this to wow their investors in hopes of boosting quarterly profits. And hey, to their credit: I bet a bunch of people will indeed watch this hot mess of a CGI brain fart, mostly out of morbid curiosity.
Next Stop Paris will air on TCLtv+, which is a free digital TV service that comes with all the company's TVs (which most people already own). No release date has been set yet.
Previously: The All Purpose Everything Sauce: an AI-generated commercial straight out of Hell
