The director behind Yung Lean's viral 'Storm' video says AI imitations on social media made even good work look 'lame'
The director behind Swedish rapper Yung Lean’s viral “Storm” video says AI almost drove him from filmmaking.
In an interview with Vulture published on Tuesday, Romain Gavras said he was disheartened by the wave of AI-generated copies of the music video.
Gavras directed the video for “Gener8ion,” an audiovisual project he runs with French producer Surkin.
The video, which has amassed over 40 million views since its release in April, follows Lean as a bully at a boarding school before the boys he has been tormenting break into an elaborate dance sequence around him during a class photo.
In September, social media users began using AI to remake the dance scene from “Storm,” swapping Lean and the schoolboys for a wide range of new characters, including animals and celebrities.
“My daughter sent me the first one I saw,” Gavras said. “She was like, ‘Look, this dog is doing it.'”
It was funny for a while, he said, but the novelty soon wore off as the copies seemed to spread everywhere.
“It made me sad for all the people who put in so much work on our video,” Gavras said. “A trend like this can make even good work look lame. Part of me wanted to quit filmmaking, move back to Greece, and become an olive farmer.”
Gavras said he wasn’t trying to make any commentary on AI, but when people started calling “Storm” the kind of video AI couldn’t pull off, he found himself drawn into the debate.
“The tech people were like, ‘Oh yeah? AI could never?’ Then they started replicating it. So we were forced into this conversation. It’s a nightmare,” Gavras said.
He added that he has turned down a few AI companies that have approached him about licensing the video.
“There’s an economic model coming that we didn’t want to be a part of,” he said.
However, even as AI-made versions of his work proliferate online, Gavras said the technology can imitate elements of the video but has yet to create anything with the same originality or human spark.
“They’re missing the swagger of Yung Lean. He looks like a dangerous baby. There’s something in the imperfection of humanity, and the interior life of someone who dances or even someone who just smokes a cigarette, that’s not quite there yet,” he said.
Last month, Lean and the dancers performed the choreography at the MTV Video Music Awards. A video of the performance has since racked up nearly 14 million views.
Gavras is not the only filmmaker who has weighed in on the impact of AI on creative work. Other major Hollywood directors have raised similar concerns: Guillermo del Toro has said AI could rob future filmmakers of the chance to learn their craft, while Tim Burton has said it strips away the humanity behind art.