EXCLUSIVE: Directors UK, the trade body that boasts members including Paul Greengrass and James Hawes, has voiced skepticism after an Italian producer unveiled what he claimed was the world’s first AI director.
Andrea Iervolino, whose credits include Ferrari and To The Bone, announced FellinAI, an artificial intelligence director conceived to celebrate European cinema. FellinAI‘s first feature, The Sweet Idleness, imagines a world in which machines have eradicated 99% of jobs, leaving humans to a life of leisure.
In a statement shared with Deadline, Directors UK CEO Andy Harrower said: “Directors see things that other people – and AI programmes – don’t. Their vision is something that AI will never replace.”
He added: “But they’ve always embraced new technology, and many are exploring how AI can support elements of their work, freeing them up to focus on storytelling. Of course, until the much-discussed copyright and licensing issues are resolved, the use of AI in film and TV production is likely to be limited.”
Directors UK’s intervention follows a similar backlash against Tilly Norwood, an AI actress being circled for representation by talent agents. Deadline first broke the news about the interest in Norwood, sparking full-throated concerns from the acting community, with the likes of Emily Blunt and SAG-AFTRA criticizing the creation.
FellinAI is housed at Andrea Iervolino Company AI, an artificial intelligence arm of The Andrea Iervolino Company, with Iervolino acting as its “human-in-the-loop,” a supervisor and producer who guides and monitors the technology.
Iervolino touted his project as a “new chapter in the history of cinema,” but said it was not designed to “replace traditional cinema,” to which he said he remained committed. Iervolino said his aim was to “unite human sensitivity with the creative power of artificial intelligence in order to tell stories that no one has ever imagined before.”