Dear Annecy Team,
I have attended Annecy festival many times, and it is an experience I look forward to every year. I regret that my first email to you is one with a negative theme, because you have helped to create a lot of joy in my life. As an animator, film enthusiast and business owner, this is an event that I care deeply about. So I have decided to write to you in honesty about our concern. This year, my friends and I left Annecy 2024 with a bitter aftertaste.
Members attend the festival to see real artists express themselves through the medium of animation. We do not pay to squint our way through garbled auto-generated AI pulp.
This year I had sit through multiple AI-generated pieces of content, and that was only in the fraction of animations in competition I personally saw. Aside from making me want to scrub my eyes with a soapy sponge, here are some other reasons why AI content has no place in a competition of artists like Annecy Festival:
1. AI dilutes the artform
Artists persevere through intense introspection, self-doubt and (often unpaid) creative labour to say something important, personal and authentic to the human experience. This AI filth offers nothing remotely authentic or relatable to the human experience. The visuals have the appearance of complexity but are empty of meaning. No intention. Every AI generated video is an area of ugly static noise where human expression could have been. The audience does not want to wait through this stupid mush to see the next legitimate entry in competition. I joined the audience in booing each AI generated entry that came up. Waste of our time.
2. AI contains data-laundered property
Would you accept the submission of a film that contained stolen artwork? AI generated images are mostly built on stolen datasets that do not belong to them. Built on the backs of proprietary works of professional artists without their informed consent. Not only is this legally contested, it is also categorically immoral. One AI entry I noticed had literally used an AI filter to rotoscope a famous piece of hand-drawn animation from a renowed studio. I would be happy to point to the exact shot they stole from in a frame-by-frame comparison. These are the kind of grifters you are now inviting and validating into the animation community. I had not realized that Annecy festival was so enthusiastic about showcasing data-laundered or outright stolen content alongside original works of art.
3. You betrayed the artists
Respectfully... Your festival would be NOTHING without the human artists, and what they have contributed over decades. They invested in their creative education, contributed their labour and shared deep human vulnerabilities in the form of animated stories. They submitted to you in good faith, assuming that they were entrusting their films to responsible bastions of the artform. They now find their animations shown alongside scrambled imitations of animations. This shows a misunderstanding of what art is, and a disrespect towards the artists who made Annecy what it is. You owe these film makers an apology.
4. Inclusion of racially-biased content is hypocritical
Looking at the festival programme, there is a clear agenda leaning towards gender / racial / cultural inclusivity. I support this agenda, but to select image-generated content for your competitions flies in the face of your otherwise progressive attitudes. The datasets these image generators draw from are riddled with nasty biases and stereotypes from the past, including sexist images, racist images, even child pornographic images. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about: Entering the prompt of a "black youth" might return a picture of a boy wielding a knife. Entering a prompt of a "wife" might return an image of a woman working in a kitchen. Prompting the image of a "gay man" might return naked or pornographic images. These historically entrenched datasets freeze our social progress and hold us to outdated and restrictive norms.
5. You knew what you were doing
You have had plenty of time to research all of this for yourself and confer with the artists and audience of your festival. Your mistake cannot be explained as incompetence, or even cowardice. You knew exactly what you were doing when you selected these entries. It feels like you spat on the legacy of animators past and present. No, not just artists - HUMANS. It feels like you spat on humans. And this is a festival that cares about the artform?
6. AI inclusion erodes confidence in the industry
Annecy festival benefits from a healthy animation industry. But if confidence in the artform is lost by all key players... there won't BE an industry. It's not just about the MERITS of human-made art. It's about the CONFIDENCE of all key players involved. Students and professionals need confidence that the animation industry will continue to financially reward professional animators. Patrons, buyers and clients need confidence that human-made stories are still seen as superior to auto-generated stories. Audiences of animation need confidence that what they are watching was made by a human with an intention to communicate something meaningful, that their trust is not being taken advantage of by stochastic parrots. AI image generators, whilst not actually matching up to real art, undermine the confidence of ALL key players in the animation industry. When this fad dies away, the desparity between human art vs machine generated content will become clear to all, but until then, the confidence of all key players in the animation industrythreatens to collapse the industry. The remedy to this is clear and decisive LEADERSHIP from institutions like yours.
7. My recommendation
Take a clear stance against this blatant erosion of our culture, our artform and our industry. Set a requirement that AI artifacts must not be present in animation submissions. Openly discourage the use of AI in the animation process. Publicly condemn this silicon-valley-fueled AI fad, and the grifters that work in its shadow. Have the foresight to turn down quick money that will lead to your later demise. You must resolve to draw a line between real art and AI garbage. The people demand it. The future of your festival depends on it.
I hope you carefully consider the points I have listed here. Thank you for your time.
Howard Wimshurst Animation
An open letter to (CITIA) ‪@annecyfestival‬
Dear Annecy Team,
I have attended Annecy festival many times, and it is an experience I look forward to every year. I regret that my first email to you is one with a negative theme, because you have helped to create a lot of joy in my life. As an animator, film enthusiast and business owner, this is an event that I care deeply about. So I have decided to write to you in honesty about our concern. This year, my friends and I left Annecy 2024 with a bitter aftertaste.
Members attend the festival to see real artists express themselves through the medium of animation. We do not pay to squint our way through garbled auto-generated AI pulp.
This year I had sit through multiple AI-generated pieces of content, and that was only in the fraction of animations in competition I personally saw. Aside from making me want to scrub my eyes with a soapy sponge, here are some other reasons why AI content has no place in a competition of artists like Annecy Festival:
1. AI dilutes the artform
Artists persevere through intense introspection, self-doubt and (often unpaid) creative labour to say something important, personal and authentic to the human experience. This AI filth offers nothing remotely authentic or relatable to the human experience. The visuals have the appearance of complexity but are empty of meaning. No intention. Every AI generated video is an area of ugly static noise where human expression could have been. The audience does not want to wait through this stupid mush to see the next legitimate entry in competition. I joined the audience in booing each AI generated entry that came up. Waste of our time.
2. AI contains data-laundered property
Would you accept the submission of a film that contained stolen artwork? AI generated images are mostly built on stolen datasets that do not belong to them. Built on the backs of proprietary works of professional artists without their informed consent. Not only is this legally contested, it is also categorically immoral. One AI entry I noticed had literally used an AI filter to rotoscope a famous piece of hand-drawn animation from a renowed studio. I would be happy to point to the exact shot they stole from in a frame-by-frame comparison. These are the kind of grifters you are now inviting and validating into the animation community. I had not realized that Annecy festival was so enthusiastic about showcasing data-laundered or outright stolen content alongside original works of art.
3. You betrayed the artists
Respectfully... Your festival would be NOTHING without the human artists, and what they have contributed over decades. They invested in their creative education, contributed their labour and shared deep human vulnerabilities in the form of animated stories. They submitted to you in good faith, assuming that they were entrusting their films to responsible bastions of the artform. They now find their animations shown alongside scrambled imitations of animations. This shows a misunderstanding of what art is, and a disrespect towards the artists who made Annecy what it is. You owe these film makers an apology.
4. Inclusion of racially-biased content is hypocritical
Looking at the festival programme, there is a clear agenda leaning towards gender / racial / cultural inclusivity. I support this agenda, but to select image-generated content for your competitions flies in the face of your otherwise progressive attitudes. The datasets these image generators draw from are riddled with nasty biases and stereotypes from the past, including sexist images, racist images, even child pornographic images. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about: Entering the prompt of a "black youth" might return a picture of a boy wielding a knife. Entering a prompt of a "wife" might return an image of a woman working in a kitchen. Prompting the image of a "gay man" might return naked or pornographic images. These historically entrenched datasets freeze our social progress and hold us to outdated and restrictive norms.
5. You knew what you were doing
You have had plenty of time to research all of this for yourself and confer with the artists and audience of your festival. Your mistake cannot be explained as incompetence, or even cowardice. You knew exactly what you were doing when you selected these entries. It feels like you spat on the legacy of animators past and present. No, not just artists - HUMANS. It feels like you spat on humans. And this is a festival that cares about the artform?
6. AI inclusion erodes confidence in the industry
Annecy festival benefits from a healthy animation industry. But if confidence in the artform is lost by all key players... there won't BE an industry. It's not just about the MERITS of human-made art. It's about the CONFIDENCE of all key players involved. Students and professionals need confidence that the animation industry will continue to financially reward professional animators. Patrons, buyers and clients need confidence that human-made stories are still seen as superior to auto-generated stories. Audiences of animation need confidence that what they are watching was made by a human with an intention to communicate something meaningful, that their trust is not being taken advantage of by stochastic parrots. AI image generators, whilst not actually matching up to real art, undermine the confidence of ALL key players in the animation industry. When this fad dies away, the desparity between human art vs machine generated content will become clear to all, but until then, the confidence of all key players in the animation industrythreatens to collapse the industry. The remedy to this is clear and decisive LEADERSHIP from institutions like yours.
7. My recommendation
Take a clear stance against this blatant erosion of our culture, our artform and our industry. Set a requirement that AI artifacts must not be present in animation submissions. Openly discourage the use of AI in the animation process. Publicly condemn this silicon-valley-fueled AI fad, and the grifters that work in its shadow. Have the foresight to turn down quick money that will lead to your later demise. You must resolve to draw a line between real art and AI garbage. The people demand it. The future of your festival depends on it.
I hope you carefully consider the points I have listed here. Thank you for your time.
Kind regards,
Howard Wimshurst
1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 263