Are We In AI's Silent Film Era?

Omar Karim has long been at the forefront of exploring the potentials for AI and creative expression. He's dedicated to innovation, whether that be a SHOWstudio residency with his AI, Alan, to predict fashion collections, or JOY MACHINE, a new project where creators and clients in filmmaking come together to push cinema forwards using AI.

Last month, 12 artists and filmmakers shared their work at an event in London, including SHOWstudio and Nick Knight, historically at the forefront of using new tech to create imagery. There's also Tom Furse of The Horrors, and Joy Fenell, a make-up artist from New York.

'When curating the first show, my main intent was to show image-makers that show that AI isn't a tool, its an instrument...in the right hands, an instrument creates something profound and beautiful', Karim tells SHOWstudio.

'If you imagine the first camera [Camera Obscura] came out in the 1820s, and the first movie was shot in 1888 [Roundhay Garden Scene, generally seen to be the oldest surviving film], it took more than a century for things to advance to the computer graphics of Terminator 2 in 1991. Just like in the era of silent movies, AI filmmaking is in its infancy, short, experimental and without cinematic narrative and storytelling', Karim continues.

'This is the wildly exciting stage of this new form of cinema, where aesthetics, styles and evening framing techniques don't even have names yet and everyone who is creating film with technology is doing without an instruction manual or a history to build on. So, it's only being experimental, brave and daring that is pushing the creative potential of this new technology.'