Defying criticisms of ‘slop’ and ‘theft’, the growing culture of AI-powered creativity is attracting interest from Hollywood

In a former hemstitching workshop where artisans sewed pleats for Stockholm’s 19th-century bourgeoisie, a distinctly 21st-century craft is taking root: AI film-making.

One day last week, an actor, director and composer squeezed into a tiny studio booth to record a voiceover for their next AI release. Critics disparage AI movies as “automated slop” or cheating, and fume at what they claim to be industrial-scale copyright theft. But this had a distinctly homespun feel, the little team fussing over a monologue by a poetic Scottish gorilla inhabiting a transhumanist cyberpunk universe. It was a bit like recording the Archers, one of them joked.

The 26-year-old has received rave reviews for his micro-budget horror Obsession, support from Ari Aster and control of a Texas Chain Saw Massacre remake

Things have been going scarily well for 26-year-old film-maker Curry Barker.

The past 18 months have seen him level up from lo-fi YouTube comedy skits to an $800 horror short that went viral to a breakout feature picked up for $15m to being handed the reins of one of the most legendary franchises in Hollywood. It’s almost too good to be true.