Disney's use of AI for Marvel TV series sparks anger and anxiety in Hollywood

Disney has reportedly used artificial intelligence for the opening sequence of the new Marvel superhero series Secret Invasion. The news has caused anxiety and anger in Hollywood even as television and film writers are on strike over their uncertain future.The series director Ali Selim revealed in a recent interview that the Disney+ show -- a paranoia-rich spy thriller about shape-shifting aliens that stars Samuel L Jackson -- used AI as well as human illustrators to generate its opening credits.

The abstract sequence in question blends green-hued urban landscapes, spaceships and shadowy human characters, many of whom gradually reveal themselves to be the reptilian extra-terrestrial 'Skrulls' of the series.

Selim stated that the use of AI was intended to provide a sense of 'foreboding'.

"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?'" he said."We would talk to them about ideas and themes and words, and then the computer would go off and do something. And then we could change it a little bit by using words, and it would change.It felt explorative and inevitable, and exciting, and different," said Selim.

The revelation has not gone down well with many in Hollywood. Fears of AI replacing jobs of scriptwriters, designers and even actors looms large on Hollywood amid writers' strike.

The refusal of studios like Netflix and Disney to rule out allowing AI to replace human scribes was one factor that led to the writers' strike, now in its eighth week.

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Jeff Simpson, who is credited as the show's visual development concept artist and worked on a different part of the series, tweeted that he was "really concerned about the impacts of this."

"I'm devastated, I believe AI to be unethical, dangerous and designed solely to eliminate artists' careers," he wrote.

Jon Lam, a storyboard artist, said the use of AI was "salt in the wounds of all Artists and Writers in the WGA strike."

The Writers Guild of America has asked studios and streamers for binding agreements to regulate the use of AI.

Meanwhile, Method Studios, the company credited with creating the main titles for Secret Invasionsaid AI was "just one tool among the array of tool sets our artists used."

No artists' jobs were replaced by the use of AI, it said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter.

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