Pixar co-founder's new AI role is reigniting animation's biggest debate

It's a challenging time for animation sector. After Disney's layoffs swiftly followed by the company's announcement that it's putting TikTok videos on Disney+, the news that a Pixar co-founder is judging a generative AI filmmaking competition isn't the boost of optimism some people needed.

Computer scientist and animator Ed Catmull has joined the jury of the Higgsfield Global Film Festival, a $1m competition dedicated to generative AI filmmaking, and it's reignited debated over the future of both AI and animation.

Catmull was a pioneer in 3D animation. An early model of his own left hand created at the University of Utah in 1972 eventually made it into the 1976 film Futureworld, the sequel to Westworld. He went on to found Lucasfilm's computer graphics division, which was bought by Steve Jobs and turned into Pixar in 1986. He become president of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studio.

Higgsfield, which markets a subscription platform for AI filmmaking, is emphasising Catmull’s background in movie animation, describing him as a five-time Oscar winner, Toy Story executive producer and “the man who invented 3D graphics.”

“We admired how Pixar brought artists and engineers together to build something neither could create alone,” co-founder and CEO Alex Mashrabov writes on LinkedIn, adding that Catmull will now help judge “the first generation of AI filmmakers.”

Although Catmull retired from Disney eight years ago, his name adds gravitas to a competition that's mainly about promoting Higgsfield's product. That's reigniting the debate about the merits of AI animation.

Earlier this year, I interviewed the former Pixar story artist Connie He, who now works on animation with Google DeepMind. With her first short, Dear Upstairs Neighbor, she believes using AI allowed her to create a style of animation that wouldn't have been possible without it.

But there is still fierce opposition to AI in any visual arts, especially to models that were trained on unlicensed artistic work. Higgsfield doesn't have an AI model of its own but its platform hosts various models, including Seedance and Google Veo.

A lot of the comments on Alex's posts on LinkedIn and X are from people suggesting that Catmull's involvement makes the competition a landmark moment that proves AI animation is being taken seriously, but a lot of those comments read suspiciously like they were written by AI. Elsewhere, people are less enthusiastic. In the comments on Cartoon Brew, on person describes Catmull's decision as a "HUGE knife in the back".

Some AI enthusiasts are disappointed by the competition's small print. Entrants must be Higgsfield subscribers and must produce their entry in the company’s Cinema Studio. Competing projects are open sourced, granting other users reuse rights and Higgsfield itself a perpetual marketing rights.

The company has a bit of a reputation for specious marketing stunts. Back in May headlines claimed it had presented the world's first AI movie "at Cannes". It turned out that the hired screening had no connection to the film festival. Reviewers who saw it, including at our sister site TechRadar, suggested that Hollywood had nothing to worry about.

Catmull on the jury is great marketing for the competition, but the entrees will still have a lot to prove.