AI Is Everywhere. How And Why Did Marvel Use It For 'Secret Invasion'?
Image Source: The Direct
Hollywood has always blurred the line between the real world and a projection of fantasy. It seems fitting that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at any level of production is the hottest-button issue the film industry is currently facing. Marvel Studio’s newest Disney+ series, Secret Invasion, has faced recent controversy for utilizing AI to create its opening sequence.
Secret Invasion follows former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director and creator of the Avengers, Nick Fury, as he attempts to stop a shape-shifting race of Aliens called Skrull from taking over the world. Its AI-generated intro features green-hued, distorted animations that shift and fuse. The effect is unsettling and mesmerizing, though something is off—an observation that is reportedly intentional.
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Marvel’s reasoning for using AI for this project is compelling. Director and executive producer Ali Selim defended the decision to utilize AI as a way to reinforce Secret Invasion’s theme of things not being as they seem. In an interview with Polygon, he said, “When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it — it just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this? According to Selim, the AI program was fed words and phrases, continuously altered until the right look was achieved.
The company behind the AI sequence, Method Studios, also assured audiences that “no artists’ jobs were replaced by incorporating these new tools” in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The sequence was created by “talented art directors, animators (proficient in both 2D and 3D), artists, and developers, who employed conventional techniques to craft all the other aspects of the project”.
The anxiety many creatives are facing with the uncertainty of AI taking over artistic jobs mirrors Nick Fury’s growing unease about the invasion of Skrull on Earth. Anyone could be a Skrull in disguise, and no one is necessarily who they say they are—just as the AI intro has been created by something masquerading as human and difficult to understand. The decision to use AI as a direct parallel to the themes of the show is downright meta and, honestly, a more intelligent creative choice than Marvel has made with most of its recent projects.
However, viewers should be wary of intelligent reasons for dangerous decisions. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike for months regarding the Guild’s lack of action to ensure writing jobs are not taken over by AI. Marvel’s digital creation of this intro could be seen as crossing the picket line, and with many reports of Marvel Studios overworking their CGI artists in the latest projects, they have not made a strong case against their willingness to replace their workers with computers. Marvel is one of the biggest franchises to ever exist—if they condone the use of AI, what hope do smaller studios have of avoiding it? What happens to the artists behind these obsolete jobs?
Either way, Secret Invasion is an unwittingly powerful parallel to the current climate of Hollywood: whether Skrull or AI, something unknown is taking over.
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Source(s): The Hollywood Reporter, Polygon
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