005. Let's talk about AI
This one’s been on the boil for a while… I’ll be brief, because so much has been said about Artificial Intelligence already, but it’s important to state how Beakus uses AI and what rules will govern it’s application in the future.
We want to be super clear, for the sake of our crew, our clients, and our planet.
First things first: Beakus is a boutique studio. We grow and shrink depending on workflow, making us reactive and dynamic. Our passion is, and will always be, storytelling, design, and communication. We don’t have teams of developers testing kit, but we still obsess about tech advances and trends in our industry, so our opinion is founded on a fair amount of research. But above all, our business is built on friendships, trust, and honesty, which informs our thoughts on AI.
So, we’ve been thinking hard on the impact of AI on our work and our lives, and have drawn some conclusions we’d like to share:
AI is a drain on the world’s resources, requiring immense energy (by 2030 it’ll consume more energy than Japan), water for cooling (by 2027 it’ll drink up more than Denmark), and toxic chemicals (such as mercury and lead). Ultimately this will put a strain on the world’s resources, and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, we will use AI as little as possible.
AI is replacing humans. But we love working with people. Creators and artists bring a lifetime’s experience with them, which we cherish. Therefore, we’ll always seek to employ real humans first.
AI can save time and money. We are a business, but our goal is great work, not profit. If we took shortcuts in our work it’d show on the screen, and working with AI doesn’t change that principle: if a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly! Therefore, we won’t use AI to cut corners and cheapen our work.
AI is just a tool. As AI is introduced into our native software we need to evaluate it’s usefulness, just like any other tool or software update. If it works for a specific task, can be used by the crew member, and doesn’t put someone else out of a job, then we will use AI. It’s a bit like looping animation with the press of a button rather than slavishly copying out every frame again. Therefore, we will explore AI as implemented in native tools, but restrict it’s usage as much as possible, and never allow AI to direct our vision.
AI can help us. Chat GPT, for example, can assist someone’s writing if that’s something they struggle with. Therefore, we would never deny an individual’s choice to use AI to help them, outside of their hired tasks.
AI can generate ideas. Whilst true, the very nature of AI means it’s ideas are generic and derivative. We might like to use AI to provide ideas in brainstorming or development, whether text or image, but we must still judge it using human rational and our decades of experience. Therefore, AI is like slinging mud at a wall. Be selective, and never use AI generated work as final material.
AI is illegal and immoral. This is a biggie. We have hundreds of friends and colleagues who distrust AI, dislike their overlords, and are vehemently against the scraping of their work. There are now AI models built on legally scraped materials, true, but it remains a very grey area. Therefore, we will continue to celebrate original human creators and lend our voice to support those who believe AI companies should not be able to circumvent copyright law.
These are principles we will hold our crew and management to. Of course, AI isn’t still, it moves on apace, so we will continually revisit these thoughts and develop them alongside tech advances. But it’s our very own stake in the sand, and for transparency we’d encourage other companies to do the same, like the trailblazing Blue Zoo.
A useful summary of the above is:
If you are happy to work with an animation company that uses AI by default, that’s not us. If you’re sceptical about AI and cherish human creativity above all else, you’ve come to the right place! Reach out via studio@beakus.com.
ps. no AI was used in the making of the post.