The Depressing Reason Those Terrible Fake Movie Trailers Are Never Going Away

The latest viral AI craze has seen quickly generated Ghibli-style art ripping away the craftsmanship of animators for the sake of clicks. But the technology continues to pervade the entire medium of online entertainment, including fake movie trailers. The trend began with splicing clips of actors in other scenes to build a narrative that would fit into, say, an upcoming Marvel Studios or DC Studios movie—and in the past, movie studios would ding the videos to be taken down yet invariably fan trailer after fan trailer would pop up anyway. As AI improves, YouTube channels that use the tech to create even more deceiving fake trailers have risen in popularity. Many of them have amassed millions of followers and get recognized by the platform as fan trailer creators, as opposed to “view” grifters who make bank out of trolling general audiences. (We all know an uncle or old high school classmate who share fake trailers, naively thinking they’re the real thing.) For industry professionals, ... Read full article.