Danny Boyle Confirms 30 Seconds Of AI In 'Ink' — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Danny Boyle confirmed using about 30 seconds of generative AI in his new film "Ink" to animate old photographs and, as he put it, "some mice" running around The Sun newsroom because AI is "very good for animals."
- Boyle appeared to confirm online speculation that AI was used to reanimate images of the Kray brothers and former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, with his comments from Telluride indicating those reanimations were AI-generated as well.
- The director told Vanity Fair that "what 20-year-olds think about it" is what matters regarding AI, calling it "a very useful tool" provided actors are paid if they are replaced by an AI embodiment.
- At the Venice Film Festival press conference for "Ink," Boyle warned that tech giants' AI could replace journalism, asking whether "an AI journalist" would "speak truth to the power that created it."
- "Ink" stars Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce, and Claire Foy, and charts Larry Lamb's rise as editor of The Sun after Rupert Murdoch poached him from the Daily Mirror in 1969.
- The Studiocanal and Netflix production opened the Venice Film Festival and screened at Telluride, earning an 85% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes; it premieres in cinemas in December before streaming on Netflix in January.
Why it matters: Boyle's admission creates an immediate tension: he used AI to bring back images of Thatcher and the Kray twins while publicly warning that AI threatens journalism. His roughly 30 seconds of usage demonstrates both the creative appeal (animating mice without live animals) and the unresolved ethical questions around reanimating historical figures without their consent.
Ask SkimNews
