Jorge Gutierrez, director of The Book of Life and Maya and the Three, has left Amazon's generative AI animation initiative and will not make Punky Duck, one of its first projects. He announced it on social media and apologised to those he upset.
He had argued artists should shape how the tools are used, but critics saw the Amazon deal as endorsing technology that threatens jobs, especially from a creator known for handmade work.
He said his aim had been to showcase artists driving the technology. Neither he nor Amazon has explained further.
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