“Big names from the U.S. reality world” are in negotiations to be involved with Season 2 of the world’s first AI reality series, according to its creator.
Speaking at Deadline’s Reality TV Summit UK, Tom Paton teased some people “known for spearheading the reality space” are in talks for Non Player Combat.
Described as a “cross between The Hunger Games, Fortnite and Traitors,” the show from Paton’s AiMation Studios terms itself the world’s first 100% AI generated reality TV show. It sees six contestants, all AI generated, hunting each other to the death, and Season 2 is in the works.
Paton didn’t name those in negotiations for Season 2 or their potential involvement but said AiMation Studios has big plans for the show that airs on YouTube and streaming platform AiMation.
“The interest around it is kind of crazy,” he told an AI panel at the Reality Summit UK. “One of the real goals for Season 2 is to make it feel more like Big Brother, where what you are watching is what happened yesterday. The episodes come in real time off the back of a simulation.”
AiMation has previously said it has received interest in the format from global broadcasters.
Matt Campion, who runs Ed Gein: Original Psycho indie Spirit Studios, which used AI to recreate Gein’s home, surroundings and the man himself, said “some broadcasters are up for [AI], some aren’t, and some are up for it as long as you use their tools and their tools are s**t.”
He added that American networks are “averse” to funding AI content before it gets to screen.
“Because of this idea of truth, especially in true crime, they are averse to putting money in at pre-sell stage,” he added. “But it doesn’t mean they won’t buy the finished product.”
Off the back of the Gein show, Spirit Studios is making more of that ilk including “human-AI combined scenes,” according to Campion. “This is additive, it doesn’t take anything away and isn’t trying to be too clever,” he added. “The future is to move on as an indie and to be a modern-facing indie you have to embrace AI.”
Matthew McConaughey the dream get for Twinnin
Matthew McConaughey. Image: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty
Also speaking on the panel was Katrien Grobler, who runs controversial AI twinning app Twinnin. She was speaking two days before SAG-AFTRA votes to ratify a new set of contracts in the States that will include 12 clauses around AI, all of which Twinnin is “compliant with because we protect artists and humans,” Grobler said.
Grobler is bullish about the speed of AI’s growth and believes 99% of content will be AI generated by 2030, therefore artists’ likeness needs to be protected.
Her dream get for Twinnin, which clones an actors likeness that can then be sold on to studios or brands, is Matthew McConaughey, who recently trademarked his image and voice to protect them from unauthorised use by AI platforms.
“He is open to AI and is a good dude,” said Grobler, who added that Twinnin is working on a premium tier offering a “higher level of emotion.”
Deadline’s Reality TV Summit UK is running today concurrent with SXSW London. Netflix UK unscripted boss Syeda Irtizaali and some of the nation’s most successful unscripted producers and directors have also featured.
