The Filmmaker Using AI As A Source For Good

Yesterday, London-based Slovakian artist and director Gregor Petrikovič was announced as the recipient of the second edition of the SOLO AI Award; a prize that honours moving image works that prioritise excellence, innovation, and storytelling while created using artificial intelligence.

No mean feat, Petrikovič's nominated film Sincerely, Victor Pike was chosen from a pile of 450 works submitted by 372 artists thanks to a panel of four core judges who all were all in unanimous agreement on Petrikovič's tender portrayal of beauty in his exploration of memory loss. Inspired by his own real-life experiences, Sincerely, Victor Pike is the culmination of Petrikovič's ardent preservations of conversations with friends, partners, and acquaintances due to significant memory loss. Since 2016, Petrikovič has collected audio recordings as a way to fight such loss.

'Winning the SOLO AI Award for Sincerely, Victor Pike is an incredible honour', noted Petrikovič when speaking to SHOWstudio. 'The project began from a desire to preserve fleeting everyday conversations with people I love. Although the film is made with generative AI, it has a human heart, and I'm happy to see that people connect with it.'

What marks Petrikovič's film different from the rest is its refusal to adopt AI in replacement of the human experience. Instead, Sincerely, Victor Pike elevates both, encouraging us to see how AI can be used as a force for good when it's there to support the human experience rather than override it. Recently, the news has been filled with stories documenting how AI can help aid loss by replacing our loved ones with holograms for us to interact with long after they're gone. Petrikovič disagrees with this, and for good reason.

'There is a question of whether AI can soothe loss and help those grieving but I keep wondering, why should it? Loss is part of the human experience', the filmmaker remarked. 'I see great potential in using AI as a creative tool for storytelling. That’s what I aim to do in this film. Remembering people is important - that’s what shrines do, right? They remind us of those who have passed because their time here has run out. But I can also see a dystopian scenario where AI might be used not as a memento of a person but as a tool that strives to replace someone or help someone avoid the process of moving on. Mourning is important and teaches us where to place value, and I don’t think it should be replaced by AI. While I spend my time engaging with and remembering past stories in my work, what is here and now remains the most important thing to me.'

Marking a significant milestone in Petrikovič's career, the award will see the filmmaker receive a prize of €10,000 as well as the opportunity to share his deeply personal narratives with a broader audience thanks to the opportunity given to have exhibitions at Espacio SOLO in Madrid and Sónar+D in Barcelona as part of the prize. 'I am grateful for this recognition and excited to share my work with new audiences', Petrikovič continued, before thanking all institutions involved including Goldsmiths University, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Artnet, and Google Arts & Culture for their support. 'This award allows me to continue expanding the project and to explore further the intersection of human connection, storytelling, memory, and AI.'

Distinctly human in its storytelling and subject, Sincerely, Victor Pike inarguably sets the benchmark for future filmmaking that wishes to explore the human experience, acting as a leading example of how to make a film with AI that isn't about AI.