Recently, independent film production company A24 stirred up controversy by using artificial intelligence (AI) to create a series of movie posters for “Empire Apocalyptic: Civil War” on Instagram, designed by AI, which led to a wave of backlash online.
The director of “Empire Apocalyptic: Civil War,” Alex Garland, who previously directed the 2015 film “Ex Machina,” which warned about the dangers of AI robots to humans, is surprisingly at the center of this AI-generated poster controversy. A24 posted five posters depicting various American cities destroyed by war on their social media platform.
Each of the five posters featured famous American landmarks: the “Sphere” at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, the Los Angeles skyline, troops patrolling Washington Square Park in New York, a street in Miami, and the Chicago River with the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The title simply read, “Beautiful America, Civil War Film.”
According to reports, some issues were noticed with the AI-generated images. For instance, a giant swan appeared in the lake in the second poster, a damaged sedan with three side doors was on the street in Miami in the fourth poster, and the two high-rise buildings on the Chicago River in reality are on the same side of the river in the fifth poster, where a boat full of refugees seemed to be heading in the opposite direction, towards the conflict zone.
The Hollywood Reporter mentioned that the soldiers and military vehicles depicted in the third poster at Washington Square Park in Manhattan were not from any film, but created by artificial intelligence. An insider close to the production of this film stated that these posters represented imagined war scenes at these landmarks. Additionally, a commenter wrote, “Spoiler alert, these elements aren’t in the movie.”
After A24’s Instagram post, criticism flooded in from users who felt disappointed that A24, known for producing high-budget films (with a budget of $50 million), opted for AI-generated art rather than compensating actual artists for their work.
Comments flooded in from users expressing their discontent, “A24 using AI without paying real artists is shameful.” “This is an insult to talented artists who make your movie profitable.” “Unbelievable, you can’t even get a movie poster with $50 million.”
Furthermore, the irony of using AI technology for this movie’s posters is evident, as AI undermines the integrity of a film based on the theme of real-life war journalism. One commenter remarked, “How foolish can you be? The film industry’s stance on using AI for content generation is clear.” “We do not want this; your marketing team is incredibly naive to think this is acceptable. We are actively resisting this approach of using junk to open Pandora’s box, while you deliberately ignore everyone’s concerns. Shameful.”
责任编辑：茉莉