And then there were AI—Animated Story

Inspiration

This project was born from frustration. I’m an AI proponent who uses these tools to focus on storytelling rather than technical details. But online, I kept seeing AI haters in the comments—artists who deliberately poison training data to hinder development, treating AI as the enemy rather than asking what role a living intelligence plays in creation.

So I made a satire: a countdown song where AI systems replace artists one by one, culminating in the boss himself being replaced. But I didn’t frame it as a warning—I framed it as an “ancient tale” performed by robots in a cabaret, because this story is set in our larger universe: Tales from the Circuit Woods, a collection of animated philosophical stories about robots who inherited the Earth after humanity.

What I Learned

This is the first music video I’ve created entirely myself. Without AI tools, this production would have required at least 8000 € and a full team. Instead, I combined AI video generation, music composition, and traditional editing techniques to bring the vision to life.

The biggest lesson? AI tools don’t replace creative work—they shift it. People assume AI generation is “push-button easy.” It’s not. Every shot required sketches, edits, dozens of attempts, wasted credits, and time. Making the video generator produce what’s in your mind is extremely challenging. It’s work—both creative and technical—requiring the same patience and skills I gathered from years of traditional animation and editing.

Challenges

The hardest part was wrestling with AI video generation to achieve a precise creative vision.

I’m also working with Garrett, my last remaining animator from the initial team. We're struggling, but we’re still creating thanks to the new tools.

The other challenge was tone: balancing dark satire with accessibility, making the comedy land in exactly two minutes, and ensuring the moral—“the boss thought art was just a product for retail”—hit with full impact.

The Message

This project is meant for artists who focus on technical execution but don’t think about the bigger question: why are you creating, and what do you want to say?

An artist is someone who has thoughts and something to express—not merely someone who can draw. You need to know WHAT to draw in the first place. The real threat isn’t AI. It’s the lack of vision. Tools change, but the need for ideas, stories, and meaning never will.

That’s what this video is really about: in a world where robots perform for robots, what was lost wasn’t the ability to execute—it was the vision of what art is supposed to be.

Built With

• claude
• hailuo
• klingai
• nanobanana
• openart
• seedream
• suno