A soulless performance, no matter how perfect, is fake.
On the set of ‘Superman’, a rescue dog named Ozu is obediently sitting in front of the camera.
The director raised his hand, the staff adjusted the light, and the camera began to operate. At that moment, Ozu was the most serious and pure actor on set.
When the movie is released, the ‘it’ that the audience sees is no longer the real dog.
The post production team used AI and CGI technology to reshape its facial expressions, running, and even tail wagging into a perfect digital creature.
Its soul was copied and its body was deleted.
And Hollywood is also quietly staging a ‘de lifeization’ revolution.
AI is not just stealing jobs from human actors. Even the animals that accompanied us in crying and laughing have begun to disappear from the screen.
Hollywood animal actors are being persuaded to leave by AI
In Hollywood, AI is not just replacing people.
The dog actor Rocco, who used to appear in morning news and beauty school interviews, can only occasionally take on advertisements to make a living.
Dog actor Rocco
According to reports, more and more film studios are no longer hiring real animals for filming, but instead choosing to use AI and CGI to generate their “performances” in post production.
A company called Studio Animal Services admits that this wave of technology has significantly impacted the animal training industry.
Another Los Angeles based animal rental agency, Benay’s Bird&Animal Rentals, even said that its business volume has decreased by 60% compared to before the pandemic:
I haven’t received any work from woodpeckers for three or four years, and seagulls are idle in flocks.
Benay’s Bird&Animal Rentals official website display image
All of this is not accidental.
The film and television industry has already started a cost reduction and efficiency improvement model after the epidemic. Animal photography requires insurance, supervision, and time for training; And digital animals can be used repeatedly with just one scan.
In addition, the aftermath of the 2023 screenwriters’ strike and actors’ protests against AI replacement has not yet dissipated, and the production team has a deeper obsession with controllability and efficiency.
So, AI animals became the most ideal transitional product: without unions or strikes.
Even in this year’s release of ‘Superman’, director James Gunn’s rescue dog Ozu has become a reference for AI models.
The super dog Krypto on the screen is almost entirely computer-generated, while the real dog only serves as a “prop” on set.
The golden age of animal actors has come to an end.
The camera is still running, but on the set, it is replaced by a digital dog that never makes mistakes.
AI’s’ goodwill ‘can sometimes be too cold hearted
In this depersonalization transformation, the role of AI is not entirely that of a villain.
Supporters say that it at least ended the suffering of animals on set.
PETA’s film and television director Lauren Thomasson said in an interview:
AI, like all technologies, can be used for both good and evil. In this example, it can help animals get rid of the pain in the entertainment industry, which is a good thing.
PeTA screenshot
In a sense, this statement is correct.
In the past, animal trainers often relied on intimidation, hunger, and even medication to make dogs cry, horses fall, and birds flap their wings at the right angle.
AI technology has indeed reduced these ‘invisible abuses’.
But for those who make a living through animal performances, this goodwill is like a cold wave. It saved animals, but also made their profession disappear.
Trainer Karin McElhatton from Los Angeles said in an interview:
AI has had a significant impact on the entire animal actor industry.
For her, the emergence of AI is not liberation, but replacement.
What’s even more unsettling is that this substitution has not only swept across the animal kingdom.
Earlier this year, a company announced the creation of a virtual actor named Tilly Norwood, sparking a boycott throughout Hollywood.
AI generated virtual actor Tilly Norwood
The logic is the same: if even dogs can be generated by AI, why can’t humans?
So, AI’s “goodwill” became a paradox – it made violence disappear and temperature disappear.
The screen is cleaner, but it has also lost its human touch.
A soulless performance, no matter how perfect, is fake
In this year’s release of ‘Superman’, director James Gunn originally intended to use rescue dog Ozu to play the super dog Krypto.
Almost all of the dogs that can truly appear on the screen are “digital versions” made up of AI and CGI:
That dog was almost entirely computer-generated, even though there was one standing on set as a reference.
Krypto retains Ozu’s characteristics in the movie
The screen remains as smooth as ever, with precise tail movements and flawless running posture.
Many practitioners speak frankly:
Animals made with CGI/AI can perform, but they never make mistakes, never panic, and never make mistakes.
This statement reveals a deep contradiction: technology makes images more perfect, but also makes emotions more ‘industrialized’.
Outside of the film and television industry, this’ high-precision substitution ‘has also spread.
From animal actors to group performances, from live action filming to digital performances, everything has been re encoded by algorithms.
The industry has pointed out that AI is targeting the last few lions in Hollywood. ”
The Last Lion of Hollywood Traced by AI
The question is: if that dog on the screen can be infinitely replicated, how much meaning is left for its existence?
The breathing, blinking, and mistakes of real animals, these tiny ‘flaws’ actually constitute the emotional connection between humans and images.
schematic diagram
When these are no longer necessary, the images become extremely precise but lack temperature.
The true charm of animals lies in their ability to make mistakes, pause, and suddenly look up.
If we ask further: when even animal performances can be ‘cost’ and digitized, will the next step be to replace human performances in this way?
When the camera no longer needs breathing sounds, no longer needs messy hair, and no longer allows a trace of loss of control, those replaced are not just animals, but more like a vivid reality.
Animal actors leave, humans are also being replaced
AI is not only replacing animal bodies, but also our imagination of ‘life’.
From the beginning, humans brought animals to the screen in pursuit of authenticity.
The dog’s gaze, the horse’s running, the bird’s panic They make images more humane.
But now, we use algorithms to reconstruct their expressions, simulate breathing with models, and call all of this technological progress.
schematic diagram
This is a strange cycle: we first ‘digitize’ life, and then reminisce about the temperature that was deleted.
Some people say that AI makes the entertainment industry more efficient, safer, and more ‘humane’.
But from another perspective, it is also gradually weakening our connection with the real world.
When animals are no longer needed on the screen, will we also enter a world without life?
schematic diagram
Over the past year, Hollywood has experienced strikes, protests, and boycotts – actors demanding to protect their faces from being used for AI training. However, animals do not even have the right to protest.
They were just quietly removed from the set, like a quiet disappearance.
Perhaps the ultimate victory of AI lies not in how many images it can generate, but in our acceptance that virtual is more convenient and cleaner than real.
When that day came, we not only lost animal actors, but also lost the ability to believe that ‘vitality is important’.
The rise of AI is like a silent rehearsal.
From actors to animals, from faces to breathing, those parts that once belonged to life are gradually being replaced with more stable codes.
Perhaps one day, we will see a perfect dog, a perfect smile, and a world that never makes mistakes on the screen.
Just, is that moment of emotion still considered real?
reference material:
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-animal-actors-work
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/hollywood-animal-actors-work-1236405362/
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