"What am I watching? Where have we reached?"
These were questions I asked myself immediately, after I came across a number of promotional videos, or what we call “promos,” that were made with artificial intelligence, unusually. In many cases, it relies on human presence and human feelings that actually make you ask what it hides behind it.
It wasn't one clip. Over the course of days, I saw a number of them promoting a television program, a documentary, or a song, to the point that I would pass by them without caring about what they were promoting, just because I saw virtual people and heard voices and laughter that did not seem real.
It reminded me, in a strange way, of what had happened with previous visual revolutions.
I went back to the early 2000s, when cartoons and animation opened new doors for song and video clip makers. I remembered, for example, Hani Al-Omari’s song “Every time the morning comes, I think of you,” in which Hani appeared as a cartoon character jumping from one closet to another and changing in size as the video passed.
I also remembered the logo for the “Mirrors” series, which used animation in the late nineties, in an attempt to keep pace with a technical and visual wave that seemed, at the time, new and exciting.
But there is a difference between being amazed by technology, and making you want to follow what is in front of you.
A few days ago, I sat down with a few friends, and we found ourselves talking about the increasing prevalence of AI-made promos. Some of them agreed with me: these passages, in their opinion, seem so artificial that they do not arouse any feeling, and therefore they are easy to skip. As for others, they advised me not to burden the issue more than it bears, and to remember that “life’s misfortunes are greater.”
To be honest, my journalistic sense prevented me from doing so, so the question began to grow in my head: Does artificial intelligence enter promotional rooms just to create a more beautiful picture, a more strange scene, or a character that humans cannot create? Or is the real test much more difficult than that?
In an industry that relies largely on grabbing attention within seconds, the promo seems to be one of the most sensitive places to test this technology. Success, in the world of television, is not measured only by the quality of the image or the speed of production, but rather by what those seconds leave in the mind of the viewer.
The idea did not change much when we moved from the television screen to the digital screen.
We first need to understand what a promo is supposed to do in the first place. It is not just a short clip showing snapshots of the work, but an attempt to condense an entire idea, mood, and story into a few seconds, leaving enough curiosity to push the viewer to click and watch.
While the controversy surrounding the “promo” made with artificial intelligence is concerned with its credibility and the accuracy of what it presents, the most important test remains beyond the quality of the image: can the machine create a real feeling? Can a digital character, no matter how proficient it is, convince the viewer to visit an archaeological site as a real human might do with his expressions and feelings? More importantly: Can artificial intelligence leave him wanting to know what is coming?
“Man by nature always searches for originality.”
Dr. Salim Sharif, professor of media psychology, believes that the ability of a promo made with artificial intelligence to attract viewers cannot be reduced to visual dazzle, as, in his opinion, humans remain searching for authenticity and the human touch even amid the torrent of content produced by the machine.
Sharif told the BBC that “man by nature always searches for originality,” noting that “the brain is able to distinguish between work that carries effort, creativity, and human experience, and an industrial product.” He believes that humans view what the machine produces as closer to coldness and farther away from emotion, because behind it, in the end, is a machine that “does not carry any feeling, spirit, thought, history, or morals.”
According to Sherif, this does not mean that the audience will necessarily reject content made with artificial intelligence. On the contrary, curiosity may be one of the most prominent motivations for interacting with it, as the viewer may stop to see “what the machine produced,” and then share the clip with others out of wonder. But he points out that liking content does not necessarily mean having a deep emotional connection to it.
Sherif cites the example of art to explain this difference, explaining that the recipient may be attracted to a painting painted a hundred years ago because it carries history, experience, and originality, even if it is not the most impressive from a technical standpoint. Hence, the dazzle provided by artificial intelligence may succeed in attracting the eye, but it alone does not guarantee building a long-term relationship with the viewer.
On the other hand, Sherif believes that artificial intelligence has an exceptional ability to create scenes and events that are difficult for a director to implement, even with the capabilities of the largest studios. This ability gives the promo a powerful tool to arouse curiosity, and may push the viewer to follow the content for hours, even if the story or scenes are not real.
He says that “a person will enjoy even if the story is not true because of the narration and content,” especially when the effects are used in a way that draws him in to know what will happen shortly. Here, artificial intelligence becomes able to play on the audience’s feelings and transform curiosity into viewing, interaction, and participation, which are the basic goals that the promo maker seeks, according to Sherif.
But behind this pleasure, there is another psychological effect: The viewer, according to Sharif, may still have an inner awareness that repeats to him: “This is not real.”
But if the human feeling is what is missing from the artificial image, then what does the promo maker himself see? Is artificial intelligence considered a competitor to the director, or a tool that expands what he can do?
“Artificial Intelligence has reduced the distance between imagination and implementation.”
For Mahmoud Gomaa, director and producer of promotional advertisements, making a promo begins with the idea, before the camera, instrument, or any of the implementation elements.
Jumaa told the BBC that the question he asks at the beginning, before production, is: “What do I want to say? What feeling do I want to reach the viewer? What will make him stop in front of the promo and want to know more?” Then the image, the rhythm, the music, and the montage come to all serve this idea.
Jumaa believes that artificial intelligence has not changed this basis, but it has “greatly expanded the scope of implementation,” as it has become possible to experiment with ideas and scenes whose implementation previously required great production capabilities. Most importantly, in his opinion, technology “reduced the distance between imagination and implementation,” and opened “a very large space for creativity and experimentation.”
But the abundance of capabilities does not mean that everything produced by artificial intelligence serves the promotion, according to what he explains.
Jumaa, who has more than ten years of experience in creating promos and visual content, says, “The tool can provide you with many dazzling images, and here the real role of the director begins: Which image serves the idea? And which image has meaning within the story?” Therefore, he asserts that “it is the idea that determines the tool, not the other way around.”
Jumaa believes that the best use of artificial intelligence is when the work needs to build a different visual world, restore a specific time or place, or implement a scene that is difficult to produce realistically. As for scenes that depend on human performance, “a look, reaction, simple movement, or real feeling” may be more influential than a digitally created image.
Jumaa does not believe that traditional photography and artificial intelligence are in a state of competition, but rather that combining them may be one of the most important creative spaces currently. Artificial intelligence, he says, is capable of producing realistic images and simulating emotions, but “there is a difference between creating an image of someone who looks sad, and knowing why this moment should affect the viewer.”
He adds that the power of a promo may sometimes lie in “a look, a moment of silence, a hesitation in the sound, or even an extra second” before moving on to the next shot, because “artificial intelligence can simulate the form of a feeling, but it is the human being who gives this feeling its meaning.”
The machine may succeed in capturing the viewer's eye, but to win him over it requires more than dazzling: an idea that arouses his curiosity, a feeling that leaves an impact, and a story that makes him want to stay. While the ability of artificial intelligence to create an image expands, it remains the human being who decides whether that image is worth seeing.
