Artificial intelligence divides in the world of animated cinema. The Annecy festival opens on Sunday and it was impossible not to take up the subject, according to its artistic director.
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The 48th Annecy animated film festival begins Sunday 9 June and runs until Saturday 15 June, headlined by directors Terry Gilliam and Wes Anderson and the world premiere of the new Pixar film, Vice Versa 2. The festival also addresses a current subject and source of concern : artificial intelligence (AI).
No less than eight films, mostly short, but also a feature film, with the common point of having used artificial intelligence, were selected to be officially screened during the festival. A choice that divides some participants, but for Marcel Jean, artistic director of the event, it is what had to be done to support these changes and debates. : “I’m going to look for the essential oil of the whole production and creation of animation. The weight of artificial intelligence is more and more important in this big whole, so that it is found in the final selection”. He is pointing out that “the share taken by artificial intelligence is constantly growing. Programming [du festival] is a reflection of that.”
More generally and beyond the simple framework of the Annecy festival, two majority thoughts conflict on AI. On the one hand, the craftsmen, including the voice actors, think that it will end up replacing them in the more or less near future. This was also one of the arguments at the heart of the long screenwriters’ strike in Hollywood. Others consider that it remains a useful tool that must be mastered correctly, with a human being always in charge.
“AI poses a whole series of challenges on a legal level, on an ethical level.”
Marcel Jean, artistic director of the Annecy festivalfranceinfo
Both points of view must be found at the Annecy festival, according to Marcel Jean : “It is our role to be a place of debate, of reflection, a place where we try to project ourselves or raise the challenges we face. AI poses a whole series of challenges on a legal level, on the ethical level. We are facing, perhaps, the greatest technological challenge in the circle of cinema animation.” To discuss this challenge, a debate is planned for Wednesday June 12 at the Annecy festival. Its theme will be: “Artificial intelligence between fantasy and reality”.
The Annecy animated film festival faces the challenge of AI: report by Matteu Maestracci