TELEVISION
The first AI series has dropped… and it's melting.
A fully AI-created TV series has made its debut.
Prime Video’s Castle Walls is the first end-to-end AI created show to appear on a major streaming platform. Produced by the Turkish studio Ay Yapım, it consists of two 17 minute episodes and uses a mix of generative video tools to bring an 11th-century epic to life.
Now, there have been other AI projects. Think Ben Affleck’s AI-assisted thriller Animals or Elon Musk’s seven-minute Odyssey remake. But this is the first time a streaming giant has put a whole series on the line.
The stakes at hand:
Money: Going all-in on an AI show comes with financial risks.
Time: Compressing production schedules can cut development time, but may put pressure on the TV pipeline.
Taste: Testing viewers' willingness to sit through an AI-made series.
Then came the reviews
There’s the feat of delivering the first AI series… and then there’s the task of making it watchable.
The Guardian’s Luke Buckmaster was less than impressed with Castle Walls, specifically the “Vaseline-smeared mess” of characters. He found many of the environmental images vague, yet striking. But once “people” appeared on screen, he checked out. Because they looked like melting Madame Tussauds statues.
Turns out "make it cinematic" isn't a complete prompt.
Even AI divas can also have an on-set meltdown. - TL