Tech company Pickford AI, creator of Pickford, an interactive AI storytelling platform, has partnered with Peabody and three-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning director and showrunner Bernie Su (“Artificial,” “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries”) to develop and produce an AI experience entitled “Whispers.”
“Whispers” is an AI-driven interactive thriller where viewers collaborate, compete, and strategize in real-time to work with or against each other to identify a killer. The audience whispers in the ears of characters, shaping behaviors and actions through their direct input throughout the story.
Pickford’s AI narrative engine allows for entirely new storylines, outcomes, and characters so no two stories are ever the same. Every character decision, clue discovered, and twist in the story emerges dynamically from audience interactions, resulting in “a living, breathing narrative experience that offers surprise and suspense with every session in a way that has never before been possible,” according to a statement.
“Whispers” will debut alongside a product release from the company in the fall.
Su is the creator behind a number of YouTube series including the Jane Austen adaptations “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” and “Emma Approved,” and the live interactive sci-fi drama “Artificial” for Twitch, which became the most awarded Twitch Original Series ever. Su is currently directing the AI animated feature “Every Living Creature” for Staircase Studios AI.
“Bernie is a world-class storyteller with a track record of acclaimed interactive work that aligns perfectly with our endeavor to merge cutting-edge technology with boundary-pushing storytelling,” Stephen Piron, Pickford AI’s co-founder with Cole Clifford, said. “At Pickford AI our mission is to transform how stories are told – and experienced. Teaming with Bernie on ‘Whispers’ allows us to push the boundaries of AI-powered narrative in ways audiences haven’t seen before.”
Su said that working with Pickford AI was an opportunity to push the boundaries of what’s possible in immersive and social storytelling. “Together, we’re not just telling a story — we’re creating a dynamic experience where the audience is consequential and their choices truly matter, raising the stakes of what the next generation of entertainment can be,” he said.
Piron and Clifford will present the Pickford technology on May 18 at Cannes Next, the innovation-focused program that runs as part of the Cannes Film Market. Audiences will get a sneak-peek demonstration through an experience called “First Date” – a crowd-driven AI story that adapts, reacts and improvises in response to the audience. During the screening the audience will “whisper” in the ears of the “daters,” leading them to the “best date of their lives, or perhaps sabotaging them and watching their romantic dreams fall apart,” Pickford said.
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