Home Appliance Company TCL Made A Fully AI-generated Romcom, And Its Trailer Has Failed To Win Over AI Critics

It is, apparently, time for the 2024 edition of the annual AI-generated movie controversy.

Roughly 14 months after Corridor Digital drew controversy for attempting an AI-generated anime, home appliance company TCL has released a trailer for a short romantic comedy film in which the characters and setting are entirely generated by artificial intelligence.

As expected, opinions are split between enthusiasts who think it's a noble attempt at pushing AI technology's current capabilities and critics who think it still does not look good.

The story seems to be extremely cookie-cutter: A woman arrives in Paris, meets a hunky man and then romance and various obstacles to that romance ensue.

As pointed out by many, the AI appears to have some issues keeping the character designs consistent. In some frames, the leads look almost Heavy Rain-esque, and in others, they look like matte paintings.

Furthermore, it appears the AI video model used has had some trouble generating shots of scenery. In one example, a clock with two "III"s and a mesh of gobbledegook on its face is shown. The film was written and voice acted by real people.

It appears TCL is aware that Next Stop Paris would likely cause controversy. The short film will be free later this summer on TCLtv+, and the YouTube comments on the trailer are turned off.

The company has not tweeted about the film or otherwise promoted it on social media either. Though the trailer was released last Friday, it began seeing criticism over the weekend after it was the subject of a Kotaku article.

While there does not appear to be much enthusiasm for Next Stop Paris, one must admit the trailer surpasses that for Princess Jane.

I plan on releasing a complete animated movie with AI. pic.twitter.com/WtgrExtWe5

— Rufus (@Rufus87078959) September 2, 2023