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Countdown to when studios licensing this for "unlimited" episodes of your favorite series. There was Seinfeld "Nothing, Forever" AI parody, but once the models

Countdown to when studios licensing this for "unlimited" episodes of your favorite series. There was Seinfeld "Nothing, Forever" AI parody, but once the models improve enough and are cheap enough to deploy, studios will license their content for real and just have endless seasons. Or even custom episodes. Imagine if every episode of a TV show was unique to the viewer.

htrp 3y ago
Speedrunning Black Mirror
mbil 3y ago
I imagine it's not long before we see hyper-targeted commercials where the actors look like us, live in our city, etc.
- hansonkd 3y ago
  Custom AI commercials would be very interesting. Instead of seeing strangers enjoying the benefits of the product, it shows you. A car commercial would show you driving, etc. Commercials and TV episodes could have a basic "story arc" and then completely customized to the viewer. Think about the simpson's or something. Imagine that the story of the episodes were kept, but you could swap in the characters and locations. So for instance if you lived in Nashville TN, all the simpson's episodes could be generated to show the settings as Nashville instead of Springfield. Then you could have the AI switch out the characters to be people you want. Maybe you want to replace Lisa with an AI Simpsons version of you. Mayor Quimby with Nashville's actual mayor, etc.
  - internetter 3y ago
    Oh lord no thank you
  - tavavex 3y ago
    > Custom AI commercials would be very interesting. Instead of seeing strangers enjoying the benefits of the product, it shows you. A car commercial would show you driving, etc. I think it'd kind of defeat the point - I can't imagine a person that'd want their likenesses to be used to market to them. It'd be a disaster. Setting swaps are more realistic, though at the point where things get good enough for that to be possible, we may just see completely on-demand newly generated media instead of modifying what already exists.
  - altruios 3y ago
    If I saw myself onscreen telling myself to buy a product I've never seen or used: I would not buy that product or use that service. It feels violating to have your image used against your best interests (of not being manipulated to be capitalism's bitch) like that. That is a hell-scape (to me). Inserting yourself into shows... that's feels different, but my gut tells me advertisers will corrupt that idea quickly. Product placement...
    - elevatedastalt 3y ago
      With most things, Today's hell-scape is Tomorrow's Hippie Idea, Day After Tomorrow's Normal, and Next Week's You-Are-Cancelled-If-You-Don't
      - azan_ 3y ago
        Could you show any example of that pipeline? I'm trying to think about technology not using which would result in being cancelled, but can't come with anything
  - cdme 3y ago
    This sounds absolutely dystopian.
- doabell 3y ago
  Wow, I would imagine this being very effective in election campaigns (for better or for worse, probably for worse).
- ex3ndr 3y ago
  Nothing stopped doing so before AI - just slam a photo of your friends to the ad.
- CSMastermind 3y ago
  There was some monitoring company that used to have creepy web ads that would show the actual company you worked at in the ads. If anything it was a turn off and I was confused how they knew where I worked.
  - easton 3y ago
    They were probably using the ASN for your IP, and your company had its own. I used to get ones that said “Comcast user you are insecure” and stuff.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Zelphyr 3y ago
I wonder if there is anything in the recent Hollywood strikes that will prevent the studios from dong that?
- nielsbot 3y ago
  I think that was one of the areas that SAG-AFTRA lost on. Majority Report spoke to one of the negotiators and national board member: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E62k1ZsY1IU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E62k1ZsY1IU
minimaxir 3y ago
One understated aspect of AI Seinfeld is that it took many steps to differentiate it from the actual Seinfeld and create its own identity, such as the 144p visual filter and the random microwave. Those tweaks added to its charm. If someone tried to do AI Seinfeld again in 2024, many would criticze it for not being realistic enough now that the tools to do so are now available.
- suddenclarity 3y ago
  I assume you would still be able to do that, just better? Like pixel art. Super Mario Bros. 3 look great despite being 36 years old. Contrast this with 3D games for the original PlayStation that have aged poorly.
  - jquery 3y ago
    The low poly Ps1 aesthetic is huge in indie gaming these days
ren_engineer 3y ago
I'm not sure there would be much demand for purely custom/individualized episodes beyond the novelty and maybe for fun with a group of friends. Most of the reason people watch TV or movies is for the shared experience that you can discuss with others. It could definitely drive down production costs though, hopefully HBO uses it to eventually redo Game of Thrones post season 4
- hansonkd 3y ago
  Well there is always your AI girlfriend and AI friend group with the AI generated podcast breaking down the episode. (jk, sort of) > Most of the reason people watch TV or movies is for the shared experience that you can discuss with others I wouldn't say that. Most of the reason people watch TV is to kill time. To be honest, I find my discussions with friends about TV shows on the decline just because of the fact that everyone is watching there own thing. So many shows and people watch them at their own pace. so most of the discussions go like this "Hey have you seen that new Netlix show X?" "No I haven't, maybe I'll check it out". Or "Oh yeah, i saw that a year ago, Its good but I don't remember the details". Before Streaming when you had a set schedule for TV, it was way easier to discuss things because people were forced to watch programs on a certain day and there was more limited content. This led to "water cooler" conversations about what the previous nights show. I bet if you graphed (discussions had about tv shows) / (hours watched of tv shows) that graph would trend down. Think about little kids. My niece watches cocomelon all day long. She doesn't need to discuss it with anybody. She just wants an unlimited stream.
  - JKCalhoun 3y ago
    > I wouldn't say that. Most of the reason people watch TV is to kill time. How annoying to see something amazing and then not be able to find anyone who also experienced it that you can ... what word mean's commiserate but in a positive way? I'm thinking now about the astronauts that walked on the Moon and had only the few others. I think one of the astronauts bemoaned having gone to this amazing place, like some kind of wild vacation, but not being able ever to return.
    - 3y ago
mempko 3y ago
That would not work because that's now how people work. People watch/play media to connect to others. How can you talk about anything to anyone or have any shared culture when other people will never see what you see? Movies, books, games, are a collective culture, not an individualist one. I don't know about you, but when I like an experience, I want to share it with others.
- xanderlewis 3y ago
  To be blunt about it, I can't help but imagine that the people who make such comments (and I've seen quite a few recently) are just complete philistines. They're the same people who can't draw, write, play, sing, design, or anything else and yet think they know what's good. It's almost as if they think the purpose of art or entertainment is to stimulate some particular part of the brain and everything else between that and the screen/speakers/canvas/whatever is just an inconvenience that ought to be dispensed with as soon as technology allows.
kirill5pol 3y ago
If this sounds interesting I’d highly recommend this short story by Ken Liu https://future-sf.com/fiction/1700/ https://future-sf.com/fiction/1700/
jpeter 3y ago
I am thinking of Stargate SG-1 Season 11. And remaking Game of Thrones after Season 5
slothtrop 3y ago
Actors had a strike in part over this recently.
woah 3y ago
You could have ChatGPT create unlimited simulated forum threads about news articles, but here you are on Hacker News
- xanderlewis 3y ago
  This is such a great example. Simple, but so telling.
  - apitman 3y ago
    And yet as time goes on we will become less and less certain which comments are made by humans.
    - xanderlewis 3y ago
      That's entirely orthogonal to the issue it was addressing. The point is that it doesn't matter how close the two can become (indeed, we're already pretty much there); people will always want to read stuff written by actual people (or at least a thinking being) than something purely generated by a model with no other grounding in reality.
freediver 3y ago
We haven't seen that happen for books. Perhaps humans crave human spirit?
dukeyukey 3y ago
> Imagine if every episode of a TV show was unique to the viewer. This is the bit I don't think will happen, at least in big quantities. Half the fun of watching a popular series is being able to discuss it with epople afterwards!

htrp 3y ago

Speedrunning Black Mirror

mbil 3y ago

I imagine it's not long before we see hyper-targeted commercials where the actors look like us, live in our city, etc.

hansonkd 3y ago
Custom AI commercials would be very interesting. Instead of seeing strangers enjoying the benefits of the product, it shows you. A car commercial would show you driving, etc. Commercials and TV episodes could have a basic "story arc" and then completely customized to the viewer. Think about the simpson's or something. Imagine that the story of the episodes were kept, but you could swap in the characters and locations. So for instance if you lived in Nashville TN, all the simpson's episodes could be generated to show the settings as Nashville instead of Springfield. Then you could have the AI switch out the characters to be people you want. Maybe you want to replace Lisa with an AI Simpsons version of you. Mayor Quimby with Nashville's actual mayor, etc.
- internetter 3y ago
  Oh lord no thank you
- tavavex 3y ago
  > Custom AI commercials would be very interesting. Instead of seeing strangers enjoying the benefits of the product, it shows you. A car commercial would show you driving, etc. I think it'd kind of defeat the point - I can't imagine a person that'd want their likenesses to be used to market to them. It'd be a disaster. Setting swaps are more realistic, though at the point where things get good enough for that to be possible, we may just see completely on-demand newly generated media instead of modifying what already exists.
- altruios 3y ago
  If I saw myself onscreen telling myself to buy a product I've never seen or used: I would not buy that product or use that service. It feels violating to have your image used against your best interests (of not being manipulated to be capitalism's bitch) like that. That is a hell-scape (to me). Inserting yourself into shows... that's feels different, but my gut tells me advertisers will corrupt that idea quickly. Product placement...
  - elevatedastalt 3y ago
    With most things, Today's hell-scape is Tomorrow's Hippie Idea, Day After Tomorrow's Normal, and Next Week's You-Are-Cancelled-If-You-Don't
    - azan_ 3y ago
      Could you show any example of that pipeline? I'm trying to think about technology not using which would result in being cancelled, but can't come with anything
- cdme 3y ago
  This sounds absolutely dystopian.
doabell 3y ago
Wow, I would imagine this being very effective in election campaigns (for better or for worse, probably for worse).
ex3ndr 3y ago
Nothing stopped doing so before AI - just slam a photo of your friends to the ad.
CSMastermind 3y ago
There was some monitoring company that used to have creepy web ads that would show the actual company you worked at in the ads. If anything it was a turn off and I was confused how they knew where I worked.
- easton 3y ago
  They were probably using the ASN for your IP, and your company had its own. I used to get ones that said “Comcast user you are insecure” and stuff.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Zelphyr 3y ago

I wonder if there is anything in the recent Hollywood strikes that will prevent the studios from dong that?

nielsbot 3y ago
I think that was one of the areas that SAG-AFTRA lost on. Majority Report spoke to one of the negotiators and national board member: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E62k1ZsY1IU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E62k1ZsY1IU

minimaxir 3y ago

One understated aspect of AI Seinfeld is that it took many steps to differentiate it from the actual Seinfeld and create its own identity, such as the 144p visual filter and the random microwave. Those tweaks added to its charm. If someone tried to do AI Seinfeld again in 2024, many would criticze it for not being realistic enough now that the tools to do so are now available.

suddenclarity 3y ago
I assume you would still be able to do that, just better? Like pixel art. Super Mario Bros. 3 look great despite being 36 years old. Contrast this with 3D games for the original PlayStation that have aged poorly.
- jquery 3y ago
  The low poly Ps1 aesthetic is huge in indie gaming these days

ren_engineer 3y ago

I'm not sure there would be much demand for purely custom/individualized episodes beyond the novelty and maybe for fun with a group of friends. Most of the reason people watch TV or movies is for the shared experience that you can discuss with others. It could definitely drive down production costs though, hopefully HBO uses it to eventually redo Game of Thrones post season 4

hansonkd 3y ago
Well there is always your AI girlfriend and AI friend group with the AI generated podcast breaking down the episode. (jk, sort of) > Most of the reason people watch TV or movies is for the shared experience that you can discuss with others I wouldn't say that. Most of the reason people watch TV is to kill time. To be honest, I find my discussions with friends about TV shows on the decline just because of the fact that everyone is watching there own thing. So many shows and people watch them at their own pace. so most of the discussions go like this "Hey have you seen that new Netlix show X?" "No I haven't, maybe I'll check it out". Or "Oh yeah, i saw that a year ago, Its good but I don't remember the details". Before Streaming when you had a set schedule for TV, it was way easier to discuss things because people were forced to watch programs on a certain day and there was more limited content. This led to "water cooler" conversations about what the previous nights show. I bet if you graphed (discussions had about tv shows) / (hours watched of tv shows) that graph would trend down. Think about little kids. My niece watches cocomelon all day long. She doesn't need to discuss it with anybody. She just wants an unlimited stream.
- JKCalhoun 3y ago
  > I wouldn't say that. Most of the reason people watch TV is to kill time. How annoying to see something amazing and then not be able to find anyone who also experienced it that you can ... what word mean's commiserate but in a positive way? I'm thinking now about the astronauts that walked on the Moon and had only the few others. I think one of the astronauts bemoaned having gone to this amazing place, like some kind of wild vacation, but not being able ever to return.
  - 3y ago

mempko 3y ago

That would not work because that's now how people work. People watch/play media to connect to others. How can you talk about anything to anyone or have any shared culture when other people will never see what you see? Movies, books, games, are a collective culture, not an individualist one. I don't know about you, but when I like an experience, I want to share it with others.

xanderlewis 3y ago
To be blunt about it, I can't help but imagine that the people who make such comments (and I've seen quite a few recently) are just complete philistines. They're the same people who can't draw, write, play, sing, design, or anything else and yet think they know what's good. It's almost as if they think the purpose of art or entertainment is to stimulate some particular part of the brain and everything else between that and the screen/speakers/canvas/whatever is just an inconvenience that ought to be dispensed with as soon as technology allows.

kirill5pol 3y ago

If this sounds interesting I’d highly recommend this short story by Ken Liu https://future-sf.com/fiction/1700/ https://future-sf.com/fiction/1700/

jpeter 3y ago

I am thinking of Stargate SG-1 Season 11. And remaking Game of Thrones after Season 5

slothtrop 3y ago

Actors had a strike in part over this recently.

woah 3y ago

You could have ChatGPT create unlimited simulated forum threads about news articles, but here you are on Hacker News

xanderlewis 3y ago
This is such a great example. Simple, but so telling.
- apitman 3y ago
  And yet as time goes on we will become less and less certain which comments are made by humans.
  - xanderlewis 3y ago
    That's entirely orthogonal to the issue it was addressing. The point is that it doesn't matter how close the two can become (indeed, we're already pretty much there); people will always want to read stuff written by actual people (or at least a thinking being) than something purely generated by a model with no other grounding in reality.

freediver 3y ago

We haven't seen that happen for books. Perhaps humans crave human spirit?

dukeyukey 3y ago

> Imagine if every episode of a TV show was unique to the viewer. This is the bit I don't think will happen, at least in big quantities. Half the fun of watching a popular series is being able to discuss it with epople afterwards!