“It terrifies me, as an artist and movie lover”: Backlash as Indie Movie makes a Deal with the Artificial Intelligence “Devil”

Recently released horror-comedy film “Late Night with the Devil” has come under fire for “experimenting” with AI-generated images.

Co-written and directed by siblings Cameron and Colin Cairnes, the film criticises the dark side of the small screen. It garnered praise in its screening in the 2023 SXFW festival. Late Night “hints at a Faustian pact that trades dignity, honesty, morality and human lives to claw a share of the rating figures”, writes Wendy Ide from The Guardian.

However, its wider screening this month been caught in controversy regarding its usage of artificial intelligence-generated images.

“In conjunction with our amazing graphics and production design team […] we experimented with AI for three still images which we edited further and ultimately appear as very brief interstitials in the film,” clarified the Cairnes brothers in a statement shared with Variety, after movie critics took to Letterboxd to express their disappointment over the use of AI.

Although the misuse and regulation of AI in the creative industries has been a focus of the high profile SAG-AFTRA strikes, union contracts that protect AI-assisted, or generated work, these do not, to date, cover the use of AI in production, illustration or art.

Critics, like Eric D. Snider, have suggested AI wasn’t a “hot-button issue” when The Late Night with the Devil was produced in 2022. Others noted the film was produced without major studio backing, unlike Marvel’s use of AI-generated images in title credits last year. Boycotting Late Night will only “make indie films harder to see in theatres”, they suggested.

Per Capita’s Daisy Cox, artist, illustrator and film lover, reacts to the controversial usage of AI in “The Late Night with The Devil”, and shares her thoughts regarding it’s implications for the broader creative industry.

“AI Generated Images Terrify me as an Artist and Movie Lover”

Some of you reading this may know that I am a pretty big fan of horror movies. From mega-gory-yucks plastered in red-streaked gore across the screen, to more sombre, atmospherically terrifying psychological masterpieces, stick ‘horror’ somewhere in your advertising and you can pretty much guarantee that I’ll be there. Bonus points if you have a clear artistic vision; are trying to do something different with the (admittedly) oversaturated genre; and have a bona-fide love for the overall craft of filmmaking. Hence, this week, I eagerly purchased a ticket to the 70s-inspired fourth wall-smashing horror romp, Late Night with the Devil; the newest outing from directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes.

Some of you reading this may (also) know that, outside of rambling endlessly about films, I do a lot of art. It feels a bit grand to call myself an illustrator, but I am certainly someone who has an undying love for artistic expression and putting pen to paper. Hell, some people even pay me to do it; every time someone compliments or purchases my scribbles and silly, goofy character pieces, I feel so validated in my craft. I have been creating art – not to sound super-cliché, yada yada – for as long as I can remember.

So, yes. AI generated images fucking terrify me.

Not only do I think AI “art” reflect humanity’s basest need to copy and steal from people (because yes, in case you needed a reminder, AI “art” is theft), but I also think it shows something much darker: the constant desire to dress up such shameless theft and negligence towards artists as some revolutionary, world-shatteringly oh-so-clever artificial intelligence breakthrough.

We’ve already seen how incredibly deceptive AI generated images can be in recent months, with the AI-tinged Fyre-festival-like-disaster Glasgow Wonka experience prompting mass-refunds, as well as how damaging they can be towards the income streams of actual human artists, with the need for US anime conventions to ban stall-holders found selling AI-generated content at their artist-alleys. In summary, as someone with a conscience and general fear over where humanity is headed with regards to AI, as well as someone who very, very much has skin-in-the-game with regards to AI generated images, I am not much of a proponent of the use of AI in the creative industry, and think hefty regulation is required to protect the creativity of artists working in all mediums; from filmmaking to fine art.

With all of this in mind, I went into Late Night with the Devil excited and optimistic, and wowza – it was a fabulous camp horror romp. From David Dastmalchian’s incredible smarmy performance as lead late-night host Jack Delroy, to the masterful mix of self-aware comedy, gore-filled yucks and 70s-camera-grain-infused nostalgia, I was laughing and left mouth-agape for the majority of the film’s punchy 90-minute runtime. I mean c’mon, I even gave it my first five stars of 2024 on review aggregate site Letterboxd – I couldn’t even get to the crossing outside Picturehouse without waxing lyrical about how much I loved this film from two relatively-new filmmakers.

So, imagine my crushing disappointment upon learning that, despite the clear artistic talent and sheer effort that went into making every visual aspect of the film so perfect, the filmmakers still used AI generated images in three of the film’s interstitials; shots that, in the talk-show universe of the film’s narrative, come during the ad-breaks of the fictional Night Owls with Jack Delroy. Despite the filmmakers’ insistence that these were mere “experiment[s]” with AI and that they only appear “very brief[ly]”, I can’t help but feel punched in the gut.

I have, by purchasing a ticket to this film, financially supported the use of AI-generated images in Hollywood. I have essentially turned to the filmmakers, laughed, and – with all of my love, passion and gratitude towards human creativity – said don’t even worry about it guys, you don’t need to pay artists fairly! You can just jack our shit!

This isn’t to say I’m perfectly blameless; I, like pretty much everyone else on planet Earth, have had my fun poking and prodding ChatGPT to make it tell me about itself in Latin, and have even used AI generative image-software to make pictures of John Wick doing the shopping at Lidl. But here’s the key difference – at no point did I wilfully take these AI-regurgitated works and claim them as my own creation. At no point did I use them for anything outside of having a little play – or, as the Cairns seem to call it, ‘experiment’ – with these brand-spankingly-new terrifying tools of the future.

Do not go and watch this film.

I simply cannot in good conscience recommend supporting this film with your money. Despite the fact I so enjoyed it, and was raring for a rewatch the moment the credits rolled, I would take my money back in a heartbeat if I could. Why? As I said above – no matter what your thoughts are, by buying a ticket to see Late Night with the Devil, you are helping AI find more general acceptance with the public, and making it harder and harder for artists like me to find jobs doing what we love.

It has already been pointed out by many on Twitter / X how rubbish the stills from the film using AI looked – I didn’t spot them during my initial watch, but on review you can see how messy and careless the filmmakers were in trying to hide their use of AI.

Though many have asked the seemingly reasonable question of hey man, what’s the big deal?, I’d have to agree with this Letterboxd reviewer in their very apt assessment of the situation; “it’s a slippery slope”.

Pay artists what we deserve. Stop using AI generative images in lieu of the work of talented human beings. Fuck so-called AI “art”, and please, for the love of god, stop calling it that in the first place.

Illustration by Daisy Cox. Additional Reporting by Suchir Salhan.