The Slop of Things to Come

"With the news that the Disney media empire is bringing its stable of characters to OpenAI's short-video platform, Sora, we appear to be on the verge of the long-touted AI revolution in video. With politicians and online spammers adopting crude versions of the technology to thus far underwhelming effect, an infusion of the film industry's most beloved, family-friendly characters might seem to offer a valuable reset to the legions of utopian-minded AI promoters promising culture-wide deliverance and directing America's investment economy."

"The ad was built around the idea that the holiday season is "the most terrible time of the year" and featured a hackneyed array of holiday-season mishaps, accidents, and misfortunes, all presented as cringe-laden set pieces of the emerging AI aesthetic: streamlined, garishly artificial, and in no way redolent of Yuletide adversity as actual living and breathing humans endure it."

Disney is bringing characters to OpenAI's short-video platform Sora, potentially accelerating AI-driven video creation while raising expectations. Politicians and spammers have thus far used crude versions of the technology with underwhelming results. A Netherlands AI-generated McDonald's ad presented holiday mishaps in a garish, artificial style and prompted intense criticism; the spot and promotional materials were pulled. The episode illustrates persistent quality and realism gaps in AI video, suggests that beloved brands may recalibrate public perception, and demonstrates growing public wariness functioning as a collective filter against low-quality synthetic media.

Read at The Nation