[Teheran-ro] Let’s Create Guidelines for AI Use

The rise of generative artificial intelligence in video technology has lowered the barrier to becoming a film director, to the point that a book titled "AI and Solo Filmmaking" has already been published. A series of recent announcements about AI-made films and their releases shows that this shift is no longer a distant prospect.
In South Korea, the change began to gather momentum last October with the release of the film "Run to the West," directed by Kang Yoon-sung, the filmmaker behind "The Outlaws," and starring Byun Yo-han. The film was produced by combining live-action shooting with AI technology to generate and refine backgrounds, characters and some scenes. In the end, it fell short of expectations in both entertainment value and overall quality, drawing only 28,000 viewers. Still, it offered a glimpse of the current state of AI technology and the level of industry interest surrounding it.
More recently, the trend has shifted toward "100% generative AI films." Another notable feature is that the directors are often not traditional filmmakers, but novelists or webtoon creators. "Man in Hanbok" is one example, completed through collaboration between author Lee Sang-hoon, who wrote the original novel of the same name, and AI technicians.
"I'm PoPo" was also built entirely with generative AI, from planning and character design to scene composition. It was directed by Kim Il-dong, who previously worked on the webtoon "Kkabang" in 2007 and the short film "Who Killed Her?" in 2019. Both works are set for release in May.
The education sector is changing just as quickly. In response to the growing use of generative AI across the production process, from planning to postproduction, KOFIC's Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) recently introduced "Guidelines for the Use of Generative AI in Creative Education." It is also running advanced film production training programs. Among five AI-assisted short films completed last year, "Sigumun" won the grand prize in the film category at the first Seoul International AI Film Festa. This year, the academy is producing a feature-length animation with the goal of entering domestic and international AI film festivals.
The industry is also moving ahead. CJ ENM announced last year that it would transform itself into a specialized AI studio, and it has since unveiled the AI animation "Cat Bigi," which was invited to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), to the media. Later this month, it is also preparing a preview screening for the AI-assisted horror film "APT. (Apartment)."
AI technology is highly likely to reshape film production methods and the industry structure itself. It will improve production efficiency and broaden the creative base, but it will also raise new industrial and ethical issues. A representative case is the unauthorized use of actor Yeom Hye-ran's likeness in the AI short film "The Meter Reader." As Hollywood has done, it now seems necessary to establish AI usage guidelines and engage in in-depth discussion on how to incorporate them into the industry and use them in a balanced way. The change has already begun.
jashin@fnnews.com Shin Jin-a, Culture and Sports Desk Deputy Editor Reporter