From the video:
From the video’s description:
AI is also used in some stages.
The AI used is primarily Adobe Firefly, mainly for finishing touches, coloring assistance, and creating intermediate frames for the video.
The AI is not entrusted with the entire production process; it is merely one tool to assist in expression.
From the author’s pinned comment:
※補足
【使用AIツール】
・ChatGPT
・COPAINTER
・Adobe Firefly
・Grok（使用予定）
AIツールは、各サービスの利用規約を確認したうえで、AI事業者ガイドライン、文化庁の「AIと著作権に関する考え方」などを参考にしながら使用しています。
また、Content Credentials / C2PAに対応したツールを活用し、可能な範囲でAI使用の透明化にも努めています。
I am not strongly opinionated on AI (whether “pro” or “anti” as some would put it). Even today, people (anime fans especially) have a really good eye for these things. Just as much as one can tell the difference between 3DCG, cel, digital ink/paint, or flash. In the end, consumers have standards and with the diverse selection of media, AI tends to be the one consumers will filter out of their view.
Obliviousness aside, I’m glad to see the general vibe here is not Lawful Stupid. Whatever team is working on this is clearly putting a lot of work in in addition to the AI and I’m very much looking forward to it, but of course because AI is even mentioned it has to be embroiled in the latest culture war. Le sigh.
They literally say they use AI in the process in the description of linked video, specifically Adobe Firefly
ah yeah I just seen the video and saw those cells and such, and figured they animate by hand.
It’s entirely possible they’re doing both.
Tool used to do thing it’s for.
Oh no, apparently.
The constant hand-wringing about killing art is especially rich here, since this art presumably could not exist without it. It’s an unauthorized fan work. (Or as unauthorized as Japan’s tightass copyright law permits.) Yet even this video prattles on about how carefully they’ve triple-checked the output… like the haters give a shit. They have a one-drop rule.
All that ultimately matters is, does it look good? And if you’re starting from a decent storyboard - it ought to. I dunno if AI’s gonna raise the ceiling for any creative work, but it should absolutely raise the floor for low-budget productions. If your style is not extreme camera angles and visible keyframes, this is the tech that will do a thousand hours of busywork in a couple minutes.
The trailer at the end of this blatantly has that AI vibe. Which is fine. CGI took ages to become invisible, and mostly got there by hiding what you’re not looking at.
For Lain specifically - I think they’d hew closer to the premise if they went all-in on generated video. Specifically, so they could produce unreasonable quantities of animation, and somehow deliver different versions to different viewers. Change the reason for common events. Change the outcome of things concluded offscreen. Change what really happened, behind a white lie someone tells later. Illustrate the modern problem of the Wired: a loss of shared reality. An epistemic crisis. We’re not disappearing into the network; the real world itself is trapped in hyperreality.
I don’t get it either, personally I don’t care. It will become funny though once AI can’t even be detected by the human eye anymore. They’ll be chasing ghosts, well at least until everybody is as used to AI as they are to regular CGI.
Like you said, AI is just a tool, who cares.
If I had the right GPU, I’d be tempted to go back and use 2023-ass video generators to adapt an original story, just to demonstrate - no tool is immune to human expression. Of fucking course you can convey complex feelings despite visible constraints. Anyone going ‘well why didn’t you just animate it?’ is incorrect, in the same way as if they’d told an animator, ‘well why didn’t you just film it?’
“Everything I don’t like is AI slop.”
is the new “Everything I don’t want to believe is Photoshopped.”
Ah but everything I don’t like is AI slop. I don’t care how bad your art is, as long as a human made it I like it!
That explains it a lot. Which I think is a shame for the author(s). I mean if this isn’t AI generated then its a vicious lie that got spread by some people. These guys are obviously working very hard to finally make a Lain sequel, and even if its just fan made, I think the quality so far looks great and deserves an honest chance with the viewers. This rumour (if untrue) hurts their chances of being seen and that would be terribly unfair.
