Amazon is investing in Fable Studio, the startup best known for a viral AI-generated South Park knockoff.
According to Variety, Amazon’s investment (the amount of which was not disclosed) is going towards the startup’s new streaming platform, Showrunner, which the company describes as the “Netflix of AI.” Specifically, that means a streaming platform that lets users create shows with Showrunner’s generative AI model.
In 2023, Fable Studio published a research paper about its SHOW-1 model that trained on South Park episodes and subsequently posted a 20-minute South Park-style clip entirely written, voiced, and illustrated by generative AI. Part of the video’s virality was because it was posted during the SAG-AFTRA strike, which dealt with writers and actors negotiating protections against studios use of AI. The video was created without the permission of the South Park creators. Fable asserted in the research paper that it was an “experimental, non-commercial endeavor aimed at exploring the potential of artificial intelligence, voice synthesis, and deep learning technologies.”
But now, Fable has launched a commercial endeavor with Showrunner that went live on Wednesday. The idea is for users to become the creators by generating their own animated shows or inserting scenes and characters into existing shows. Fable CEO and co-founder Edward Saatchi told Variety the company is pursuing partnerships with Disney and other Hollywood studios to license their IP for the platform.
The existing shows created by Showrunner include a Silicon Valley satire called Exit Valley that looks like Family Guy and a show called Everything Is Fine that has a Tim Burton-esque quality. It’s unclear whether this is the result of licensing partnerships with copyright holders or from training data acquired without permission. Mashable has contacted Fable Studio for comment.
Showrunner is live in alpha mode on showrunner.xyz and Discord. Saatchi told the outlet that the platform is free to use and watch videos, but will eventually charge $10 to $20 a month for credits for users to want to generate new content.
