Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s deepfake production company just got a $20 million investment
As the world debates the ethics of deepfake and AI art technology, the South Park creators are making money
Aux News Trey Parker
The art community is currently debating the ethics and artistic merit of AI-generated imagery, along with whether or not there’s a difference between someone who actually creates something and someone who types “art” into a search engine and pretends like they made whatever comes out (there is), but South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are finding a surprising amount of success with their deepfake video business—which, at the risk of oversimplifying it, just uses AI to put different faces on different bodies.
We’ve heard from the company—Deep Voodoo—a few times over the last few years, most notably in October of 2020 when Parker and Stone launched a web series called Sassy Justice that replaced star Peter Serafinowicz’s face with that of… a certain former president. Parker and Stone had plans to use Deep Voodoo for a whole feature film in which wacky, humiliating stuff happened to… that same former president, but earlier this year they admitted that the timeliness of that gag had passed and that there wasn’t really much point in keeping it going.
The implication seemed to be that the Deep Voodoo experiment had run its course, which was hardly surprising since we were under the impression that everyone had agreed that deepfake technology is Bad and Dangerous, but apparently none of that is true. It’s so untrue, in fact, that The Hollywood Reporter says Deep Voodoo is now spinning out from Parker and Stone’s Park County company to become a “new platform for artists, creators, producers, and others in the industry to incorporate deepfake technology into their work”—and it just got a $20 million investment to help make that happen.
On the one hand, we can see some logic in getting in on the ground floor of these technologies that are so controversial. If AI art and deepfakes are banished from the Earth, Parker and Stone will have made their money. If not, and this technology takes over the world so thoroughly that we’re all someday starring in deepfake movies against our wishes, Parker and Stone will have made more money. It’s win-win!
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If you watch the Sassy Justice video, you get to see Fake Michael Caine explain to you that the perfect imitation cannot actually be done. Millions of people have a Caine impersonation. It was a brilliant choice. You’re not going to get rid of the technology, that’s how the world works. So you should thank Trey and Matt for a somewhat informative and quite hilarious video that, to not enough but some people, would serve as their introduction to this somewhat frightening technology.I would guess you didn’t get past the Fred Sassy character having an effeminate voice. Because of course, that’s automatically gay-hate. FFS
Getting an investment and making money are two different things. Just look at those FTX boss. Unless some studio/project paid them for using Deep Vodoo for $20 million they don’t make any money.Even if this technology takes over the world, they still need to gave a percentage of their profit to the investor.
Pretty sure that’s a deepfake of Matt Stone, because how else would he look so much younger than Trey Parker?
I suspect he leads a much cleaner and simpler life than Trey.
No one in that picture looks young
I don’t want to sound like a queer or nothin’, but I’d kinda like to make love to him tonight.
An Orgazmo reference!? You better check yourself, before you wreck yourself!
Stunk cock!
“Why do they call you the Cock Knocker?”
This legit made me guffaw. That your handle is Alferd “Cannibal: The Musical” Packer is the cherry.
I have to admit it’s been a long time since I watched an episode of South Park but I will re-watch any of their movies any day.
Because they only make one episode every ten years.
Just hand it to Peter Serafinowicz and walk away, fellas
Oh good. Maybe people can put Henry Cavill’s face on the next Superman so we don’t have to hear about it anymore.
Sassy Justice: The Motion Picture or GTFO.
potential sequel titles:Sassy Justice 2: Electric Boogaloo2 Sassy 2 JusticeMo Sassy Mo JusticeSassier JusticeSassiest JusticeSassy Justice: The Way of Catsup
See the funny thing about Sassy Justice, it’s very subtle, it’s what if Donald Trump was a regressive gay stereotype?Hilarity! Exactly what I expect from the razor-sharp minds of Parker and Stone!
I don’t mean to be a dick, but this article is Deep Doodoo. When you read the headline “Trey
Parker and Matt Stone’s deepfake production company just got a $20
million investment,” one of the first questions a reader might ask is
“from who?” To find that information out, or any details about this transaction, really, we have to click through to
THR and read their article, because all Sam Barsanti has to offer us is
four paragraphs of bare-minimum, not-very-good pontificating on “what
does this all mean?” I miss the pre-G/O Media days when The AVClub had
writers that could balance news and commentary.P.S. This site is so broken that your fucking burner accounts don’t even work, I had to connect to a burner Gmail to post this.
Hey, hey, HEY! Don’t be going around bashing AI-generated art as “illegitimate!” ‘Cause that’s how we wind up with Skynet Hitler…
What could possibli go wrong?