{"id":308407,"date":"2025-08-01T05:08:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/308407\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T05:08:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:08:16","slug":"maybe-nobody-wants-this-and-it-wont-work-amazon-is-chucking-an-undisclosed-amount-of-cash-at-ai-generated-tv-shows-but-im-struggling-to-see-the-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/308407\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Maybe nobody wants this and it won\u2019t work&#8217;: Amazon is chucking an undisclosed amount of cash at AI-generated TV shows, but I&#8217;m struggling to see the appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This may scandalise some younger readers, but once upon a time you&#8217;d turn on the telly and simply watch what was on. The question of what to watch these days has only gotten more complex, with a wealth of streaming services now vying for your eyeballs. Well, Amazon may be touting AI as the answer\u2014I mean, just judging by the undisclosed amount they&#8217;ve thrown behind startup Fable.<\/p>\n<p>The Edward Saatchi-owned outfit has already been around for a few years, debuting with VR game <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=r-H5U6dV0VM&amp;t=75s\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=r-H5U6dV0VM&amp;t=75s\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" rel=\"noopener\">Wolves in the Walls<\/a> back in 2019. What&#8217;s piqued Amazon&#8217;s interest more recently is Fable&#8217;s AI-generated &#8216;streaming&#8217; service <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.showrunner.xyz\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.showrunner.xyz\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" rel=\"noopener\">Showrunner<\/a> (via <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2025\/digital\/news\/netflix-of-ai-amazon-invests-fable-showrunner-launch-1236471989\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2025\/digital\/news\/netflix-of-ai-amazon-invests-fable-showrunner-launch-1236471989\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" rel=\"noopener\">Variety<\/a>). Hop into the Discord, and you can start mashing out prompt-based animated scenes that are all about as bleak, monotone, and ugly as I was personally expecting.<\/p>\n<p>Having already run as a closed alpha test with 10,000 users, Showrunner is currently free to use. The recent public launch offers a few &#8216;story worlds&#8217; to plug prompts into, all powered by Fable\u2019s SHOW-2 AI model. Exit Valley is a popular &#8216;show&#8217; on the Discord, but very much reads to me like shockingly average adult animation that&#8217;s trying way too hard. Using Exit Valley&#8217;s AI stage you too can generate scenes <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/watch.showrunnerapp.xyz\/storage\/v1\/object\/public\/videos\/SC00_Kim_is_telling_to_To_2025_07_31T14_08_36_996Z_20250731141027591a.mp4\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/watch.showrunnerapp.xyz\/storage\/v1\/object\/public\/videos\/SC00_Kim_is_telling_to_To_2025_07_31T14_08_36_996Z_20250731141027591a.mp4\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" rel=\"noopener\">like this one<\/a>, where a cartoony Tom Cruise jabbers with a Kim Kardashian that refuses to skip arm day\u2014and also inexplicably sounds progressively more Australian with every rep.<\/p>\n<p>Related articles<\/p>\n<p>Fable wants to eventually implement a &#8216;credits&#8217; system for creators, planning to charge between $10 and $20 a month to generate more AI scenes. However, all Showrunner content will remain free to view in the hopes of encouraging folks to watch and share clips on third-party video platforms like YouTube (where Showrunner&#8217;s <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/software\/platforms\/youtube-will-no-longer-demonetize-videos-with-strong-profanity-in-the-first-7-seconds-but-youll-still-need-to-choose-your-f-ks-carefully\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/software\/platforms\/youtube-will-no-longer-demonetize-videos-with-strong-profanity-in-the-first-7-seconds-but-youll-still-need-to-choose-your-f-ks-carefully\/\" rel=\"noopener\">f-bomb heavy schtick may not even get demonetised<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Edward Saatchi told Variety that the vision for Showrunner is to create something &#8220;playable,&#8221; in a not entirely dissimilar way to mashing dolls together in a dollhouse. He said, &#8220;The \u2018Toy Story of AI\u2019 isn\u2019t just going to be a cheap \u2018Toy Story.\u2019 Our idea is that \u2018Toy Story of AI\u2019 would be playable, with millions of new scenes, all owned by Disney.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Dropping the big D isn&#8217;t just a powerful name drop, as Fable is apparently in talks with the house of mouse about licensing its IP for Showrunner. But even with such upfront ambition, even Saatchi is saying: &#8220;Maybe nobody wants this and it won\u2019t work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In conversation with Variety, he says this within the wider context of his earlier ventures into VR not taking off as he had hoped. But Saatchi also concedes that &#8220;today AI can\u2019t sustain a story beyond one episode,&#8221; and that the technology is perhaps better suited to &#8220;deeply episodic shows with characters largely resetting every episode \u2014 sitcoms, police procedurals, space exploration.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, points for self-awareness, but I&#8217;d argue even traditional intrigue-of-the-week shows often feature season spanning narrative arcs or even simple callbacks. Don&#8217;t worry, I&#8217;ll spare you my impassioned defence of <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ff-XiZzJLxw\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ff-XiZzJLxw\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" rel=\"noopener\">Elementary<\/a> as the genuinely better take on &#8216;Sherlock Holmes, but make it a cop procedural&#8217; from the 2010s. Anyway, besides that, I was already looking at Showrunner&#8217;s dollhouse and loudly wondering what the point of it all is.<\/p>\n<p>For one thing, deciding what I want to watch via traditional streaming services already requires work amounting to a low-level research project\u2014I already enjoy that work, so why would I put my energy into the well-draining black hole of AI? For another thing, &#8216;playing&#8217; with established characters and IP just makes me think about the good old, wonky days of machinima\u2014to say absolutely nothing about the fanfic burning a hole on my hard drive.<\/p>\n<p>With these creative outlets and more already available to me, I don&#8217;t really feel the need to play within the confines of Showrunner&#8217;s corporate, AI playground.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/zqjJJySWE3wYifuBykdTZh.jpg\" alt=\"HP OMEN 35L\"   class=\"person__avatar image-wrapped__image image__image\" loading=\"lazy\" data-normal=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/zqjJJySWE3wYifuBykdTZh.jpg\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/zqjJJySWE3wYifuBykdTZh.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/zqjJJySWE3wYifuBykdTZh.jpg\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" data-slice-image=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Best gaming PC 2025<\/p>\n<p>All our current recommendations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This may scandalise some younger readers, but once upon a time you&#8217;d turn on the telly and simply&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3163],"tags":[323,1942,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-308407","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114951782640012604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}