Thanks to AI, making cartoons has become 90 per cent cheaper

Just a few years ago, lip-syncing one minute of animation could take up to four hours. An animator would listen to an audio track and laboriously adjust the mouths of characters, frame by frame. But a one-minute scene now takes 15 minutes for an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to sync, including time spent by an artist to refine a few spots by hand.

Toonstar, the start-up behind StEvEn & Parker, uses AI throughout the production process – from honing storylines to generating imagery, to dubbing dialogue for overseas audiences. “By leaning into the technology, we can make full episodes 80 per cent faster and 90 per cent cheaper than industry norms,” said Mr John Attanasio, a Toonstar founder.