Aardman Studios Founder Says He Will ‘Accept’ AI: ‘We Will Keep Our Values’
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Aardman Animations — the studio behind Wallace & Gromit — says it intends to gradually “accept” artificial intelligence while striving to “preserve its values.”
Nick Park, one of the studio’s co-founders, tells Radio Times: “When Toy Story came out in 1995, we thought: ‘How much time do we have left?’ But we managed to survive against computer-generated imagery.”
He recalls the “revival of interest” in stop-motion and adds: “We’ve used CGI as well, but AI is an entirely new phenomenon. Naturally, a lot of people are worried about their jobs.”
Aardman’s openness to AI comes at a time when concerns among acting unions in both the UK and the U.S. are growing — particularly fears that performers’ voices and likenesses could be replicated without consent, or that studios might use them to train AI systems and ultimately push actors out of the filmmaking process.
Park explains Aardman’s approach: “We want to embrace this technology and explore how it might be useful for us — maybe speeding up parts of the animation process — but we’re being extremely cautious not to lose our values.”
He emphasizes the studio’s commitment to stop-motion as an art form: “Clay is what gives our work its charm, and we’re proud of that. Authenticity is the most important thing. The charm lies in authenticity.”
The studio recently won two BAFTA Awards for Vengeance Most Fowl, which depicted Wallace confronting the dangers of technology. Wallace & Gromit first debuted in 1989.
