Indie film darling A24 has come under fire for using AI-generated imagery in the marketing of its latest release, Civil War.
On April 17th, the company shared six posters on its official Instagram page showing different war-torn American cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. However, people soon noticed that the images appear to be AI-generated.
For example, a shot of wreckage in Miami contains a car with three doors, while the two Marina Towers buildings in Chicago are improperly placed in the poster versus where they should be in real life. Elsewhere, in the Los Angeles poster, an actual giant swan is featured in a lake instead of what one would assume should be a swan-shaped paddleboat. These are all the sorts of mistakes that AI-generated imagery tend to make.
Some people have also taken issue with the subject matter of the poster, calling them misleading for focusing on cities that aren’t even featured in the film. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, an unnamed source close to the movie confirmed these images were generated by AI but are simply meant to be “inspired” by the film and present “powerful imagery of iconic landmarks with that dystopian realism.”
There’s a particular irony at play here with A24 being the one using AI-generated imagery. For one, the company has widely been praised for supporting the unique creative visions of filmmakers, having supported the likes of Moonlight, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Uncut Gems and Hereditary. Clearly, using AI images goes against that artist-first mentality. What’s more, Ex Machina, A24’s first film with Civil War writer-director Alex Garland, was all about the dangers of AI, making the use of AI imagery in their latest collaboration especially noteworthy.
Civil War is now playing in theatres. The film follows a group of photojournalists as they navigate a war-torn America.
Image credit: A24