A Toys “R” Us executive called the company’s AI-powered video a “successful” despite the controversy it generated online, saying in an interview with NBC News that the company would add generative artificial intelligence to its “toolbox” in the future.
Toys “R” Us released an AI-generated brand video at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, sparking a wave of mixed reactions online.
According to a press release, this is the first time a branded video has been created using Sora, OpenAI’s text-to-video conversion tool. Creative agency and production company Native Foreign was given special access to Sora, which is not yet available to the public, the release said.
The minute-long clip shows a young Charles Lazarus, the late founder of Toys “R” Us, in his family’s bike shop alongside the brand’s mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe.
The release of the video sparked an immediate reaction online.
Many creatives who fear AI will eventually replace roles in acting, writing and designing have criticized the deployment of AI products and teams in their industries.
“I love this commercial, it’s like Toys R Us started with the dream of a little boy who wanted to share his imagination with the world,” writer and comedian Mike Drucker posted on X, receiving thousands of likes. “And to show how, we laid off our artists and dried up Lake Superior using a server farm to generate what it would look like in Stephen King’s nightmares. »
This sentiment was echoed in dozens of other posts that generated millions of views on social media.
Comic book artist and illustrator Andy Kluthe argued on X that Toys “R” Us should have hired actors instead, which he said would have made the video “a thousand times less weird.”
In recent months, OpenAI and other generative AI companies have been embroiled in controversy over their relationship with creatives. In May, OpenAI suspended a voice feature after Scarlett Johansson threatened to sue the company over allegations that the voice sounded like her own. This month, Perplexity AI came under the microscope, facing allegations from Forbes that the generative AI company copied its work without proper attribution.
Despite the negative reactions, the video’s creators at Toys “R” Us and Native Foreign considered the video a success.
“I think it’s part of our toolbox now,” said Kim Miller Olko, president of Toys “R” Us Studios. “It was a test. I think it was successful. I think there was a lot of learning. If the opportunity presents itself again and it suits us, we will use it, but it’s just one of many things we would do.
In response to criticism of AI and its potential to replace human workers, Miller Olko and Native Foreign’s creative director Nik Kleverov said that was not the case with this specific project.
“There are a lot of fears and rumors about what this means,” Miller Olko said. “Until you really understand what it means and how it works, you don’t have a true understanding. »
According to Kleverov, the number of people — about a dozen — who worked on the video was about the same as for any other job. He said the team worked intermittently for three months.
“Geoffrey is an animation. He’s a cartoon,” Miller Olko added. “We weren’t going to hire a giraffe, you know what I mean? He was an animation.
Native Foreign has previously worked with companies including Vogue Italia to create content using AI tools. Kleverov said it was an easy choice to partner with Miller Olko after a meeting between the two, in which they bonded over a shared vision of testing new technologies.
“The main thing was to make sure (the video) had emotion and soul,” Miller Olko added in the interview.
Despite the extent of negative reactions online, some viewers had positive impressions of the video.
“This is pretty impressive,” wrote content creator Tim Simmons, who goes by Theoretically Media online. “I think we’ll be seeing more Sora in commercials very soon. What do you think?”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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