THOUGHTS ON AI

From the time of the first cave painting, humankind has been in a constant state of artistic evolution. From plant pigment on rocks, to the printing press, to digital cameras, each leap has expanded what we could imagine and communicate. AI is the next leap.

Every artistic revolution has faced resistance. Painters dismissed photography, photographers dismissed moving pictures, and 2D animators dismissed digital animation. But across every media transition, one lesson is clear: history rewards the bold.

At Spiridellis Bros. Studios, we don’t see AI as a way to make things that already exist faster and cheaper. We see it as a new plane for creation and as a tool that can help artists collapse the gap between idea and expression.

We understand that giant corporations see AI as a way to slash costs, and technology companies are enabling the wholesale theft of artistic styles to attract ever more users to their platforms.

Every new medium has faced misuse at first, from pirated VHS tapes to Napster. But laws and technologies emerged then, and will evolve now, to set boundaries. What concerns us more is the disruption to people’s lives.

AI is going to radically transform the entire process of creating, producing, and distributing entertainment. Some jobs will change forever, and some will disappear. There aren’t many animation cell painters left in the world today but, like before, we believe new opportunities will emerge and multiply for great artists to create art for a living. And, like before, we intend to be the studio that helps to figures it out.

Since the days of the dial-up Internet, my brother and I have used technology to reach audiences with stories they had never seen before. We pioneered viral media with JibJab, innovated personalized entertainment with Starring You and ElfYourself, and reshaped kids’ entertainment with StoryBots. As new technologies emerged, we figured out new ways of doing things, and when we did, new jobs followed. 

We created hundreds of jobs over the years, and we intend to do the same with AI. What will those jobs look like? We don’t know, just as we didn’t in 1999 when we got started. What we do know is this: if we bring great artists together, empower them with technology, and coordinate their efforts to create great entertainment, audiences will reward us. That support will fuel new jobs, empower more artists, and spark even greater stories.

Some artists dismiss AI as unequivocally evil. We believe that view does a grave disservice to both artists and the world at large. The artists who turn away from these tools will fail to adapt, and the world around them will be robbed of their unique voices.

Artists: do not give in to fear. Our time on earth is finite. Use every tool available to create as much as you can, as well as you can, starting now. Do it nobly. Don’t use tools to steal other artists’ work. Use them to explore and expand your own. Remember: every day spent fearing the future is a day not spent building it.

At Spiridellis Bros. Studios, we will not apologize for creating. The bell has rung, the siren is sounding, and there is no turning back. The age of AI-enabled creative expression is here and we intend to be a bold voice in defining what great art and entertainment look like in this next epoch.