Weird AI film stills are taking over the internet

AI is easily the most contentious topic in the sphere of art and design right now, and the debate doesn't appear to be going away any time soon. Almost every day we see new (and terrifying) examples of advanced text-to-image generation – and not even the film world is safe.

Stills from 70s and 80s sci-fi and horror pictures are currently flooding Twitter, depicting all manner of weird and wonderful creatures and universes. The only issue is that these films have never existed. (New to the conversation? Check out the weirdest AI art created with DALL-E 2.)

It all started with acclaimed director Keith Schofield sharing shots from David Cronenberg's Galaxy of Flesh (1985) – a film which, as you've probably guessed, isn't real. But with their tactile, fleshy monsters and retro film stock, the shots look decidedly real – and Schofield's followers weren't happy about it. "Congrats on stealing art to make a fake movie," one user commented, while another added, "Absolutely nothing is gained by not being transparent that AI-generated images are AI-generated."

But Schofield's aren't the only fake movie stills doing the rounds. People have been imagining various films by acclaimed avant-garde filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky, including Jodorowsky's Tron and, hilariously, Jodorowsky's Frasier. 

But for many, AI generated art isn't simply fun and games. As well as questions surrounding its existential threat to artists, there are issues over copyright. Recently, hugely popular AI app Lensa has been accused of spitting out AI "art" with evidence of the original artists' signature still visible. And then there's the issue of over-sexualised AI art.

Indeed, it seems new AI art controversies are emerging every day right now. From last month's ArtStation protests to Getty banning AI-generated images from its library over copyright concerns and people using the tools to copy specific artists' styles, the tech is causing all manner of disturbance online.

Read more:

• Is Adobe's AI art feature as creepy as it sounds?
• AI-generated art won a fine arts competition – and artists are up in arms
• The first copyrighted AI art looks uncannily like Zendaya