Washed Out released a fully AI generated music video and the internet got upset

On May 3rd, Washed Out released a music video for “The Hardest Part” directed by Paul Trillo. The video claims to be the first “commissioned” music video completely AI generated using OpenAI’s Sora, which is kind of a weird flex because who cares about the distinction of the first “commissioned” anything? The release brought out a lot of rage in the music video community and a lot of smugness in the AI community. Considering how displeasing the video itself is to look at, both the admiration and the hate seem inflated and lack much nuance.

Tensions and opinions around the use of AI in the short form industry were already at a high point, after UnderArmor released a Wes Walker-directed commercial that used recycled footage and generative AI. Folks got equally as riled up about the underwear commercial as they are about this music video.

The feedback from the music video community first emerged on Instagram. While most of the response seemed to go between negative and alarmist, there was some praise peppered in. One example is the Staff Pick the video, another example of Vimeo’s tone deafness to the needs and concerns of the music video community. Considering generative AI video still looks a lot closer to the Will Smith eating spaghetti video than real people, the paise doesn’t feel super genuine. It almost feels like a memo went out that if you hype up the content you might be able to get a Sora login of your own.

Surprisingly, the normies on YouTube also seem pretty anti-this video. While reading YouTube comments is always dangerous, things are especially spicy here. They mostly reduce Paul Trillo to some kinda of tech bro that’s never picked up a music video in his life. When the reality is Paul is a very talented and inventive director that often experiments with new technology in his music video work and has really cashed in on the industry’s push into AI. He appears to consider the ethics of this technology in his work, and says the right things when talking about it. The question is whether we can ever expect ethics from a technology that is so closely woven with tech money that at times the energy around it can feel eerily similar to NFTs.

Washed Out also pinned a comment to the top of the upload, with a much more centrist message than anything posted below it. In it, they acknowledge the debate the video sparked and try to frame as a chance to amplify the discussion around the ethics of AI use.

Even if there was a clear line between what is and isn’t an ethical use of this technology, the music video community isn’t currently strong enough to push back against anyone that crosses a boundary. So right now all we can do is roast people on IG and wait for our Sora beta invites.

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