Amazon Invests in Fable 's "Netflix of AI" Platform Showrunner
I just heard some pretty exciting news - Amazon has invested in Fable, this San Francisco startup that's created what people are calling the "Netflix of AI." Their platform, Showrunner, just went public after being tested by about 10,000 users. What's it do? Well, it lets regular folks like us create TV episodes by just typing in a few words. Pretty wild, right?
The whole thing is run by Edward Saatchi (he's the CEO and co-founder). Amazon hasn't said exactly how much they're putting in, but the money's going toward building out this AI storytelling platform that could seriously shake up entertainment as we know it.
Here's the deal with Showrunner - it's free to use right now. But Fable plans to charge creators about $10-$20 monthly for credits to make hundreds of TV scenes. The cool part? Watching the AI-generated TV episodes costs nothing, and they actually want you to share them everywhere.
Saatchi isn't just trying to make cheaper special effects. "The 'Toy Story of AI' isn't just going to be a cheap 'Toy Story,'" he says. Instead, he wants these AI-driven stories to be "playable" - kinda like video games where users generate new scenes. They're even talking with Disney about licensing their characters for the platform!
I've been following the user-generated TV shows trend, and this takes it to another level. Saatchi thinks we're heading toward "two-way entertainment" where we don't just watch shows but create them and even become characters by uploading our photos. But he's not totally sure if mainstream audiences actually want to be their own showrunners.
The tech behind this Showrunner AI platform is something called SHOW-2 . Before this, they made SHOW-1 and used it to create nine "South Park" episodes that got over 80 million views! They didn't have permission, but they weren't making money off it either.
So what can you actually make with it? At launch, there are two original "shows" - one called "Exit Valley" that's like Family Guy but makes fun of tech leaders like Elon Musk. The other, "Everything Is Fine," follows a couple who get separated in some alternate world after fighting at Ikea. Weird but interesting.
The platform does have limits though. Saatchi admits AI can't handle complex stories like "Breaking Bad" yet - it's better at episodic stuff where characters reset each episode.
Will this Amazon investment in Fable change how we consume entertainment? Maybe. The company's only got 15 employees working out of San Francisco's Mission District, but with this funding and their innovative approach to AI content monetization, they might be onto something big.
What do you think? Would you try creating your own animated content using AI? Or is this just another tech fad that'll fade away?
