Corridor Digital "Rock, Paper Scissors" AI Anime Controversy

Overview

Corridor Digital "Rock, Paper Scissors" AI Anime Controversy refers to the backlash and discussion of a video created by production company Corridor Digital that used AI art tools to make an animated short in the style of anime. The video went viral as some praised it for showing the potential of AI generator tools in the animation industry, but also led to notable pushback and criticism from artists and animation fans who felt it was not only low-quality but posed a threat to the livelihoods of future aspiring animators. It also renewed viral debates around whether AI-generated content was stealing or plagiarising the artwork of others through its method of training the AI with scenes from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Background

On February 26th, 2023, the YouTube channel for Corridor Digital posted a seven-minute animated short film called "Anime Rock, Paper, Scissors" in which two characters play a comedically melodramatic game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, poking fun at tropes employed in epic anime battles. The video gained over 2.2 million views in eight days (shown below).

On their website, Corridor revealed in a making-of video that they had used AI art tools including Stable Diffusion, Dreambooth and Davinci Resolve to create the final product. The characters in the short were played by real humans and footage of their acting was then animated over using the AI in a technique similar to rotoscoping. Backgrounds were created in Unreal Engine. The AI was notably trained on the anime Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust^[1] to craft the short's style.

Developments

On February 27th, 2023, Twitter user @ammaar^[2] tweeted a clip from the video, praising Corridor's work. The tweet gained over 2,000 retweets, 6,000 quote-tweets and 14,000 likes in one week and led to widespread discussion of Corridor's video on the app.

The folks @CorridorDigital combine Stable Diffusion, Dreambooth, and Davinci Resolve for their AI powered anime and the results are incredible! pic.twitter.com/AnxaAd0CHp

— Ammaar Reshi (@ammaar) February 27, 2023

Some praised what the video could mean for the potential future of animation. For example, on February 27th, Twitter user @karbon1111^[3] wrote, "This is just absolutely game changing. Can produce an entire series with 1/10 the budget now. Majority entertainment decentralization coming," gaining over 16 retweets, 89 quote-tweets and 760 likes in one week (shown below, top). On March 5th, user @denteb01^[4] said it could help small creators who couldn't afford large animation teams (shown below, bottom).

Many criticized Corridor's video from multiple angles. Some of them felt the video itself looked low-quality, pointing out inconsistencies with lighting, color and character. For example, on March 1st, 2023, Twitter user @_emma__marie_ pointed out a scene in which a character's eye color kept changing over mere seconds (shown below, top). In a lengthy thread criticizing the work on March 2nd, user @TinyDragon_Art^[5] pointed out multiple instances in which the AI had made basic animation mistakes (example shown below, bottom).

At LEAST check if the damn eyes colour is consistent pic.twitter.com/YhLlXoOD8H

— ⭐️Emma Marie⭐️ (@_Emma___Marie_) March 1, 2023

On March 3rd, YouTuber Geoff Thew posted a video criticizing Corridor's animation and the implications surrounding it, gaining over 412,000 views in three days (shown below). Among the many criticisms, Thew noted that if AI tools were adopted by major animation studios looking to cut corners, it would stifle the careers of future aspiring animators and threaten the jobs of already existing animators, all while putting together a perceivably soulless, unoriginal product, as AI creates from pre-existing data rather than new ideas.

Search Interest

External References