‘Late Night With the Devil’ raises frightening questions about the future of AI
The new horror film, which has been scrutinized for its use of three artificially generated images, raises concerns about artificial intelligence making its way into new projects and the future of the medium. Photo illustration by EMILY PARIS, Photo Editor
The poster for the 2023 horror film “Late Night With the Devil” promises “The live television event that shocked a nation!” but the real shock is the film’s usage of three images produced by artificial intelligence.
“Late Night With the Devil” has earned rave reviews at festivals like South by Southwest and has steadily built up buzz in the weeks leading up to its release on March 22. On the week of its release, discussion began to brew on social media, starting on the platform Letterboxd surrounding images used to welcome audiences back to the fictional broadcast and the potential that they were products of artificial intelligence (AI). This caused significant outrage in the horror community and amongst those who had been hyping up the film as its release drew near.
Senior creative producing major and indie horror fan Terese Chiara stated her concerns surrounding the technology.
“I know it’s just three AI images,’ but soon enough, (those) kinds of excuses (turn into) ‘It’s just a couple of actors’ or ‘Just a couple of crew members.’ How far are we going to be able to stretch that statement?”
On top of its appearance in increasingly high-profile projects, AI was also a critical point of discussion between studios and the actors and writers who went on strike last summer. AI remains largely unregulated, and both strikes were rooted in a fear that AI could be used to replace their creative output and labor. Whether it be generating ideas in the writer’s room or filling up a crowd with scans of actors in the background of a scene, AI is a new frontier and therefore poses new questions.
Directors Colin and Cameron Cairnes responded to the claims in a statement, admitting that they had utilized AI with the guidance of their graphics and production design teams.
“...We experimented with AI for three still images, which we edited further and ultimately appear as very brief interstitials in the film,” the Cairnes brothers wrote. “We feel incredibly fortunate to have had such a talented and passionate cast, crew and producing team go above and beyond to help bring this film to life. We can’t wait for everyone to see it for themselves this weekend.”
Actor David Dastmalchian, who plays Jack Delroy, gave his thoughts on the revelation in an interview, claiming: "The only thing that makes me sad is we had an awesome graphic design team working on this film. But I get it ... (AI) is something we've learned so much about in the last few years since we made this movie."
“Late Night With the Devil” finds itself as the latest development in the contentious, evolving conversation about AI and its role in film and television production. It’s been seen on the small screen, whether it be the opening credits of the Marvel series “Secret Invasion” or to craft a poster in the background of HBO’s fourth season of “True Detective.”
Chiara cited another film, “Little Death,” which she saw virtually at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year as an example of AI’s growing place in film. The film sees a middle-aged filmmaker in crisis and uses a mix of animation, computer-generated imagery (CGI), traditional visual effects and AI to enter its protagonist’s mind.
“A good portion of the first act is, like, completely AI, which was really strange,” Chiara said.
Senior screenwriting major Jackson Spiner, who has been following “Late Night with the Devil” since it was announced, has not yet seen the film but discussed his displeasure regarding the film’s use of AI.
“I love David Dasmalchian; he's a great actor. I'm a big horror movie fan and a big indie horror movie fan…So I was really excited,” Spiner said. “And then I was really bummed to see that it relied on AI for some of its production design and graphic design. In the past few weeks, I've been sort of conflicted as to whether I will pay to go see it or not.”
The horror genre has often adapted to new endeavors in technology, whether it be the ascendance of the found footage genre with films like “The Blair Witch Project” or “Paranormal Activity” or films set entirely on FaceTime calls like “Host” or “Unfriended.”
When asked if the use of AI in “Late Night with the Devil” was a reflection of horror adapting to new technology, Spiner strongly opposed it.
“My instincts, as I think you can guess, is to just say, absolutely not…(Horror is), I think, the most reflective genre of the time period…Horror to me, has always been about reflecting the fears of the moment…” Spiner said. “I think a big fear right now is AI…and so, to see a movie implement AI without seemingly any reason or intention but rather laziness, it feels counterintuitive to what the horror genre is.”
Kevin Jones, an associate professor and the chair of the graduate programs for the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, outlined what he sees as the most immediate implementations of AI in film production. He says that it’s likely going to be used to accelerate things like sound and editing.
Jones compared the ascendance of AI in film to the evolution of CGI. At the beginning of Pixar, former chief creative officer of Pixar John Lasseter struggled to find the right way to use the technology. CGI kept making things look like plastic, so John Lasseter devised a story built on characters made of plastic and created “Toy Story.”
“[AI is] not going to go away. It’s going to change the world and it’s going to be a little bit of time before we figure out exactly how. ”
So if AI isn’t going away and if anything is going to become more ubiquitous, it’s up to filmmakers and audiences to decide how they want to see it on the big screen or if they want to see it at all.