Film With AI Director Imagines A Future Where Most Jobs Are Automated

Less than a week after news of an AI-generated actress named Tilly Norwood sparked a fierce Hollywood backlash, a teaser has dropped for a film described as the first directed by an “AI agent.”

The Sweet Idleness, from Italian movie producer Andrea Iervolino, “marks the beginning of a new chapter for cinema,” said Iervolino, who is known for films including Ferrari and Waiting for the Barbarians starring Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson.

The feature film, set for a February release, is directed by an AI system called “FellinAI,” named after Italian director and screenwriter Federico Fellini, who’s considered one of the most influential directors of all time. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for further information on how FellinAI works.

The virtual director is “paying tribute to the poetry and the dream of the great European cinema, with digital actors created by real faces,” Iervolino said in a statement. That process is powered by Actor+, a division of The Andrea Iervolino Company that generates digital likenesses from human performers who give permission to be recreated in virtual form.

The Sweet Idleness takes place in 2135. According to the logline, the movie imagines a world where 99% of jobs are automated “while the unlucky 1% still sweat it out — in this case, in a mine — while the rest recline in luxe comfort. Subtle? Not particularly. Timely? Absolutely. It’s a blunt parable about labor, leisure and who gets stuck holding the pickaxe when automation ‘saves’ us.”

Most creatives worried about AI stealing their jobs, of course, would probably call themselves “lucky” not to be replaced by it.

The film’s teaser — with a soundtrack that echoes the work of Fellini composer Nino Rota — comes as the fast rise of AI continues to divide actors, filmmakers, writers, visual artists and other creatives. Some worry AI will steal their work without credit or compensation, replace them altogether and possibly reshape the very nature of creativity. Others view it as a novel collaborative partner with potential to steer them in exciting and surprising new directions.

That AI can be a teammate is a perspective Iervolino clearly embraces. He says he will be a “human in the loop” on The Sweet Idleness “to ensure creative and productive coherence,” along with writer Andrea Biglione.

“This does not replace traditional cinema, which I continue to support with a passion,” he said. “It’s an alternative and complementary route, to give life to works that would otherwise remain invisible.”

‘We Protect The Work Of Artists’

Unsurprisingly, The Sweet Idleness teaser has been met with pushback, with comments like “shame on you” and “the death of art” appearing next to Iervolino’s Instagram post on the project.

“I’m very sad to see this,” L.A. director and cinematographer C. Wayne France wrote. “As someone who has spent many years in tech before filmmaking and have studied and played with AI video the last couple of years, my conclusion is it’s an assault on what makes us human, and our soul.”

Iervolino responded to France by insisting projects like The Sweet Idleness offer artists new tools, not threats.

“We protect the work of artists and professionals by teaching them how to create their own artificial intelligence agents, made in their image and likeness, while respecting their artistic vision,” he said. “This way, art professionals can continue to have work in the future, in connection with artificial intelligence.”