“Like how an alien intelligence would understand our beer commercials.”
Psychedelic Beerpocalypse
An AI-generated beer commercial is here, and frankly it’s the ghoulish fever dream we all deserve.
As a general rule, beer commercials most often fall into two categories. The first is characterized by gruff ramblings about the American spirit intermixed with shots of scenes like wheat fields, Midwestern cityscapes, and handshakes between dudes, while the second mainly just depicts some kind of party. Think Fourth of July gatherings, Sunday football hangouts, and the like.
The viral AI-generated advertisement in question was a depiction of the latter genre, specifically showcasing a backyard barbecue scene. It was a believable beer commercial setting, with all of the general elements of the genre making an appearance. A big group of 20 and 30-somethings are seen standing in the backyard, laughing and drinking beer as they chat and grill. (Obviously, a cursed version of Smash Mouth’s “All Star” is playing in the background.)
But as with all AI-created videos, a lot of things were… off.
The beer pints, cans, and bottles were all warped and blurred, while the faces and hands of anyone trying to drink from those objects were similarly deformed, often melting into the beverages as they “drank.” Several of the beer containers are also seen floating, and at the end, the backyard kind of, uh, explodes? File under: psychedelic beer barbecue apocalypse.
“This AI beer commercial,” tweeted the video’s creator, Armand Domalewski, “looks exactly like how an alien intelligence would understand our beer commercials.”
Looks Like Hell
Twitter users definitely had some thoughts about the commercial.
“It’s pretty much how most commercials look to the average person paying a fraction of attention to it while doing other things,” tweeted another.
“Looks like hell,” added yet another Twitter user.
Honestly? None of them are wrong.
Time Will Tell
Though text-to-video AIs are admittedly impressive — if generally unhinged — the psychedelic beer barbecue in question could certainly be seen as one of many examples of how far the tech still has to go.
But who knows, in a few months we might just have a less apocalyptic AI-generated beer ad where believable people are physically able to drink beer without melting into the cans.
More on text-to-video: Behold This Nauseating AI-Generated Pizza Commercial