Grimes has been on the cutting edge of the overlap between artificial intelligence and music, and now, she’s doing the same with the technology and film.
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As revealed Thursday (Nov. 5), the alternative singer-songwriter is part of the cast of Gods Don’t Give Gifts, the first AI-generated movie coming to theaters. She lends her voice and physical likeness to her character, Zayinth Alda, described in a release as “a disaffected NiiroCore aristocrat and niece to Caen Halvorith, inventor of the Substrate Migration Protocol.”
The film, which will premiere this winter, explores a dystopian future reality in which “consciousness can be transferred between bodies, memory can be bought and sold, and death is no longer final,” a synopsis reads. In a clip released alongside Grimes’ casting announcement, her AI-animated form chastises another character before storming away with a massive, muscular, faceless creature acting as her guard.
“You dragged me to the slag heaps for this? A slideshow of derivative drivel?” she yells before boarding her futuristic spacecraft.
Though the visuals on screen are produced by AI, Grimes’ voice and dialogue were not. Gossip Goblin, the studio behind the Zack London-directed project, asserts in the release, “Casting the likeness of an actor with their spoken vocal performance will become more common with animated films using AI — audiences will see actors, athletes, musicians giving vocal performances with their likeness in films.”
The announcement is fitting, considering Grimes has long been interested in the ways the controversial technology is developing. She’s now gearing up to release her new album, Psy Opera, which explores the complexities of AI and uses artificially generated music on one of the tracks.
Watch the clip of Grimes’ AI-assisted performance in Gods Don’t Give Gifts below.
