Alex Mahon stresses plan was to ‘test tools’ not ‘replace ideas’ with in-house studio 4Creative using ethical AI platform to produce teaser
Channel 4 has used AI for the first time as part of a marketing for forthcoming series of Firecracker’s relationship format Open House: The Great Sex Experiment.
The premise of the show questions the role of monogamy in modern relationships and follows couples as they escape to a retreat to explore polyamory.
C4’s in-house studio 4Creative produced the trailer using ethical platform Adobe Firefly.
The ad features ordinary couples on a romantic date, but each scene takes a surreal turn when a third lover is introduced: couples spit popcorn and orange juice over each other and a man turns into a dolphin and flies out of a swimming pool. The promo features a legal disclaimer that AI was used to make it.
The broadcaster’s chief exec Alex Mahon took to LinkedIn to explain the rationale for using the technology, suggesting it complemented the “bold and bizarre” nature of Open House.
“We wondered: what happens when you strip out human emotion [from modern relationships] and let AI try to make sense of it?” Mahon wrote.
She stressed that AI was used to test a developing part of the industry, as it looks to harness the tech in a meaningful and appropriate manner.
“This was 4creative’s first AI-led promo – not to replace ideas, but to test the tools, embrace the weird, and see what happened when we let go of control,” she wrote.
“We used ethical platforms, and kept our creative brains firmly in the driver’s seat. AI’s not the point – it’s just the chaos engine.”
David Wigglesworth, executive creative director of 4creative, said: “Open House is an utterly bonkers show that more people need to be watching.
“So, we set out to reflect its wild, anything-goes spirit with a campaign that’s just as strange, funny and thought-provoking.
“By taking picture-perfect couples and throwing a third person into the mix, we wanted to show — quite literally — how weird things can get when you open up your relationship.”
Open House: The Great Sex Experiment returns for a third series in the Spring.
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