The film "What’s Next?" by director Yiwen Cao consists exclusively of AI-generated images. Her movies used to struggle with funding issues, but AI has made this film possible on a small budget.

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The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

Yiwen Cao, a filmmaker from China, produced the film 'What's Next?' using only AI-generated images created with the Runway software. Without a script or traditional filming equipment, Cao generated over 20,000 short videos by writing prompts for the AI, organizing them into a film that addresses topics such as human greed, gender inequality, capitalism, and climate change. 

Cao considers storytelling a fundamentally human skill, viewing AI as a tool rather than the creative force. The film, made in just one week, was screened at the Berlinale, where it attracted significant attention and mixed reviews, highlighting ongoing debates about the role of artificial intelligence in creative industries.

'What's Next?' — a completely AI-generated film

This movie is the brainchild of Yiwen Cao, a young film director from China. And it might look unlike anything you've seen before. The film is called What's Next. Film director Yiwen Cao had previously worked on a different film for seven years. As she didn't get any funding, she started experimenting with AI. No cameras were used in What's Next. Instead, Yiwen used an AI image-generating software called Runway to create the images by writing precise prompts. The magical thing is that I didn't have any outline and script before, but when I started to do it, the outline just dropped to my mind. And I just keep input orders into the AI generators. And then I got more than 20,000 short videos. And I organized them at all. I hadn't slept for six nights. The first generated images led to ideas for scenes. And through writing and rewriting prompts, Yiwen finally got what she wanted. Her film has no protagonists and no script. It shows how human greed destroys our planet. Images of women in chains represent gender inequality. And demonic figures distorted images of money and meetings between wealthy men stand for capitalism. There are also apocalyptic scenes caused by climate change. So who's the creative force behind the film, Yiwen or the AI? Yiwen thinks storytelling is a human skill. Filmmaking should always focus on story. Story is the most important and fundamental thing. AI is just a technology. And I just regard AI as one of film's types. Just like suspense, romance and others. While some films take millions to make, Yiwen made What's Next alone on her computer in just one week. For a new director, it's very hard to find investment. At least it will give me a chance to show my opinion to the world. And that chance may help others to notice me. Many screenings of What's Next at the Berlinale sold out. Viewers were intrigued, but the film received mixed reviews.

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'What's Next?' — a completely AI-generated film

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Rise of AI