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A stream of people appears on a brightly lit front porch, each holding a bottle of wine, spirits or beer.
This cozy winter scene depicted in a new NB Liquor ad encourages customers to stock up for the holidays.
But none of the smiling people or the bottles of alcohol they are holding are real.
The announcement was made with artificial intelligence. And now NB Liquor is getting so much attention for the video campaign that a government minister ordered them to pull the ad.
A spokesperson for NB Liquor said in an emailed statement that its use of AI came down to trying to manage costs.
The minister responsible for the Crown corporation asked them to withdraw the ad while they discuss the future use of generative artificial intelligence.
“AI did not replace our team or our creative direction; our concept, story, and standards still guided the entire process,” wrote Florence Gouton.
“It helped us experiment with a different technique, much like we do with animation or other creative approaches.”
Luke Randall, minister responsible for NB Liquor, told reporters he asked the Crown corporation to pause the announcement once it was made aware of it.
While he said the government is hesitant to “interfere” with NB Liquor, “I heard from New Brunswickers that this was a cause for concern.”
Randall described the use of AI as an “ongoing national issue” and said he asked NB Liquor for a conversation about its use of AI.
“The intent of this government is always… to support local,” Randall said, but he did not say, when pressed by reporters, whether he asked NB Liquor to no longer use AI in commercials.
The announcement did not go down well with Pierre-Luc Arseneau, an independent filmmaker and graphic artist from New Brunswick, who worked on a Christmas commercial for NB Liquor last year.
“It’s one thing to lose a contract with someone who is creating better things than you. But it’s another thing to lose a contract with generative AI,” Arseneau said in an interview with CBC Radio. Change.
Arseneau said it’s immediately obvious that the ad is made with AI.
“The bottles had some gibberish written on them, the background looked a little strange, the lighting didn’t make any sense. People were acting a little strange, moving strangely,” he said.
The winter months are typically slower for professionals in their line of work, Arsenault said, so having a gig like the one he did last year for NB Liquor makes a big difference.
“I have colleagues who are already looking for different job opportunities, colleagues who have completely left the industry because they don’t want to be a part of it,” Arseneau said of AI.
“But it was a little scary knowing because we all know it’s inevitable.”
I felt confused, then angry and sad.
University of New Brunswick film professor Robert Gray also had several concerns about the video. He described it as “creatively insulting.”
“One [reason] is that it doesn’t employ New Brunswick artists and that our current government has been very vocal about the status of the artist,” Gray said.
The use of AI for this particular video makes the ad look like something that could have aired anywhere in the world and has no real connection to New Brunswick, he said.
“It has the least amount of impact and the least amount of anything. Like it has no history,” he said.
“I went from confusion to anger to feeling really sad because there are so many talented artists who could [have] They hired me instantly and I came up with something better.”
Additionally, Gray said New Brunswick is a place where people rarely, if ever, see themselves reflected on screens. This announcement, he said, was a missed opportunity for that.
