Tim Burton says AI renditions of his style are “very disturbing”, “like a robot taking your humanity, your soul”

Over the summer, Buzzfeed published an article of photos generated by an AI platform, which was asked to recreate Disney characters in the style of Tim Burtonwho created a truly unique style in his films, such as Cockroach juice, Edward scissor hands, THE Nightmares before Christmas, Coralina, and many others. The AI ​​comparison results depicted Elsa Frozen and Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty in the style of Burton’s stop-motion animated film, The Corpse Bride. The article went viral, but not to Burton’s own amusement.

In a recent interview with The Independent, Burton reacted to the AI’s recreations of his signature style, and he wasn’t happy about it, to put it mildly.

Burton explained:

“They asked the AI ​​to make my versions of Disney characters. I can’t describe the feeling it gives you. It reminded me of when other cultures say, “Don’t take my picture because it’s taking your soul away.” What it does is it sucks something out of you. It takes something from your soul or psyche; this is very disturbing, especially if it has to do with you. It’s like a robot that takes your humanity, your soul.

Combining artificial intelligence with niche artists has become a popular trend on social media. Videos created by artificial intelligence imagining what Star Wars OR The Lord of the Rings it might seem like if Wes Anderson Their directs have also gone viral in recent months. The Times of London asked Anderson about these clips during his summer press tour City of asteroidsand said he mostly ignores these AI recreations.

“If someone sends me something like that, I immediately delete it and say, ‘Please, sorry, don’t send me things from people who do me.’ Because I don’t want to look at it, thinking, “Is this what I do?” Is that what I mean?” I don’t want to see too much of anyone else thinking about what I’m trying to be because, God knows, then I might start doing it.

Burton is currently visiting the press in support of a new art exhibition of his work opening at the National Cinema Museum in Turin next month. Production of his latest feature film, the long-awaited Beetle juice 2is on hiatus during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

via: Variety