Grimes Joins Fable's AI-Generated Film Gods Don't Give Gifts Ahead of December Release

Grimes is contributing both her likeness and a spoken vocal performance, rather than appearing on set. Fable said in a press release that this form of casting will spread: "casting the likeness of an actor with their spoken vocal performance will become more common with animated films using AI: audiences will see actors, athletes, musicians giving vocal performances with their likeness in films."

The release is an early commercial test of whether audiences will pay cinema prices for a feature made largely with generative AI. Studios and investors have spent heavily on AI video tools, but no AI-made project has yet shown that it can draw paying audiences in theatres. The Verge noted that earlier attempts, including two AI takes on The Odyssey, one of them made with Elon Musk's Grok, were poorly received.

The film is directed by Jack London, who is better known online as Gossip Goblin. It is an anthology of four interconnected stories set in a future "where bodies are disposable and consciousness has been commoditized", according to its synopsis. Grimes has explored transhumanism and artificial intelligence in her music, and is also working on an AI-themed album called Psy Opera.

Fable has not said how many cinemas will show the film, which markets it will open in, or how the likeness deal with Grimes was structured. Those terms are likely to interest performers' unions, which have pushed for consent and payment rules covering digital replicas of actors' faces and voices.