A Netflix story of a boy and a robotic dog is grabbing the attention of the art world (and beyond). No, we are not only referring to the potentially moving plot of a short film, but to theuse of AI for the creation of the work.
As also reported by Ars Technica And Kotakuas well as how it can be read in a tweet related to Netflix Japanas part of the creation of the short called “Dog and Boy” AI technology was repeatedly used to generate the images. More precisely, the latter was exploited at the background level, thus helping the creators of the anime to achieve the final result.
Netflix has stated that this is a test also related to the “labor shortage” in the anime worldbut as you can well imagine the controversies generated on the Web are not few, in a context in which artists are protesting against AI services, clearly referring to copyright issues.
Well, in the credits of “Dog and Boy”, produced by Netflix Japan and WIT Studio (the Japanese AI company Rinna is also involved), the use of artificial intelligence is indicated as related to background art and music. An issue that has not gone unnoticed is the fact that the background designer is not accredited with name and surname, but with a more generic “AI (+ Human)”.
In the meantime, the short lasting about 3 minutes directed by Ryotaro Makihara was also released on Official YouTube channel of Netflix Japan. What will happen in the future for services capable of generating images using AI? We’ll see: in the meantime, Netflix’s move is causing widespread discussion.
