Why the backlash against ‘soulless’ AI movies misses the point
There’s a purpose and place for AI-generated content. Let’s not expect too much from it.
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Artificial intelligence can reproduce beautiful lighting and sweeping camera movements, says the writer. But, to qualify as cinema, stories need a point of view that gives each image purpose.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Phillip Lim
When Coca-Cola used AI to remake its iconic 1995 “Holidays Are Coming” Christmas advertisement last year, parts of the creative community argued that it copied the imagery and nostalgia of the original, but had lost its human warmth.
More recently, two Singapore films, Trace Project and Bersama Majulah – created using AI and released for National Day – attracted similar complaints, that the dialogues were awkward, characters lifeless and stories emotionally empty.
