This delightful short puts the "art" in artificial intelligence.

What can you expect when you combine an AI image-generating machine, an elderly woman of 98 years named Lillian as well as Harry Potter? The result is "HAIRYPOUTER A short film made by director Chris Carboni. It layers increasingly whimsical AI-generated imagery and a commentary on the classic novel written by a funny nonagenarian.

"Lillian is my grandmother," says Chris. "She and I have always had a close relationship , and I've recorded her reviews for about 10 years."

In the time that AI image generators started to take over the internet in mid-2022, Chris saw the stars align into a new project which could make use of his hours of audio and help him explore his connection to this new technology. "I had a lot of mixed feelings regarding these generatorswhich is why I was looking for an opportunity about them a little bit," explains Chris. "At the moment I was having a conversation with my mother-in-law who had just finished the Harry Potter series, which I had purchased for her for her birthday as a gift."

The film was put together in a flash thanks to a fast crew "my grandmother along with my wife and me, as well as our composer and sound designer and the entire team" - and all the rest was (futuristic) history. The capabilities of AI continue to evolve at an alarming rate We caught up with Chris Carboni and discussed everything related to artistic and AI.

The imagery of this video is stunning. What tools did you employ to get the results?

Chris: So we used MidJourney, back in its initial version. It began by entering Lillian's words unedited and seeing the results it could generate based on just the quotes from the interview. We loved the artistic design that it came to with in only a couple of rounds of creating new images. So, I wrote down some hallmarks of the artistic direction that was based on this image that it had produced.

I believe the first photo we got was Ron who was wafting his hair. He looked stunning. I believe it was kind of shoulders up and the guy clearly did not wear a shirt. It was like he looked like a beach god. And then when we had a shot of Harry and Ron with each other, it showed them almost embracing each other and we were like, "Oh, this is incredible."

It was up to the AI to develop these intriguing interpretations, and when we came across one we loved We pushed the AI to follow that line, so that it would be consistently entertaining and just easy to follow.

Was it like applying AI to this very human story?

Chris: At the time I made this film, I had a fair amount of concern [about AI]. But I certainly enjoyed using it on this project. I believe that this was an excellent use-case for the project because using AI was crucial to the story.

It was enjoyable, fascinating and memorable. The project was about the awkward but delightful connection between AI and humans. This wasn't an instance where we chose to not spend a budget on illustrations and instead employ artificial intelligence instead. It was a story where the use of artificial intelligence was foundational for the storytelling.

How do you feel about AI entering the creative space?

Chris Chris: There's definitely something appealing about it, however it's become a lot more complex since these generators have become so widespread. Their potential has been unleashed, and expanded into all of these different uses. So, the topic is becoming more complex than I think like it once was with regard to my personal knowledge and opinions about the topic.

It seems that anyone working in the creative field will have to determine the implications of this for their work, and adjust to the fact that the world is likely alter. Along with this change, will be opportunities for doing amazing innovative things. But also the automation of a lot of the art that we artists love. That makes me a little unhappy, if I'm sincere. It worries me that art will be diminished and made more commodified than it already is.

Would you use this technology to help you in the future?

Chris Chris: Well I am a huge fan of using AI to enhance my emails and as a sort of personal assistant, capable of responding to questions, giving explanations to complex concepts, and handling rote chores. For creative tasks though, I don't fully know. It is certainly not my intention to utilize the process in a manner to replace the human artist within my teams. The results aren't as great.

So much of what makes our work great comes from collaborating with others. A project produced from start to finish with AI is dependent on inputs generated by one's brain. Some cases may be okay, but generally speaking the productions are aided by a team of specialists that work in tandem, each one bringing their own expertise as well as creative ideas into the mix.

Some of the most interesting uses I can think of are to generate preliminary ideas as well as kicking off the creative process. Maybe for raising funding for an idea and displaying the initial concepts in order to help get something off the starting point. But for animation there is a need for a lot of control over the details of a scene, both in terms of production and artistic motives. That level of control is likely on the way, but it's certainly not that far off.