Amazon's AI Animation Shows Draw Fire From Creators and Fans
Amazon Prime Video ordered three AI-generated animation series backed by the company's GenAI Creators Fund, sparking backlash from creative professionals and online communities who say the projects copy existing work without permission.
The most controversial is Love, Diana Music Hunters, produced by Albie Hecht, former president of entertainment at Nickelodeon. The show features a character inspired by Diana Kidisyuk, a child influencer from the Kids Diana Show YouTube channel, and follows her joining space-traveling K-pop musicians to perform a concert on Planet Goo.
Fans of Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters - an Oscar-winning animated film - say the Amazon project is a knockoff. "They can't even come up with something that's not piggybacking from a work of art made by humans," one X user wrote. Others called it a "whitewashed bootleg" and criticized Amazon for not bothering to hide the resemblance.
The second show, Cupcake & Friends, developed by BuzzFeed Studios, tells the story of "a relatable cupcake and her friends" navigating a sleepover. The character mirrors Cuppy, created by author and illustrator Loryn Brantz for BuzzFeed's earlier animated web series The Good Advice Cupcake.
Brantz said on Instagram that the AI series was generated based on her character design without her involvement. "Having my intestines pulled out of my body" is how she described seeing her creation turned into what she called "a soulless AI puppet."
This follows animator Kyra Kupetsky briefly quitting her series Chikn Nuggit over BuzzFeed's plans to use the show to train AI models.
The third project, Punky Duck, is the only one led by a recognized animator: Emmy winner Jorge R. Gutierrez, who created El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera for Nickelodeon and Maya and the Three for Netflix. The show follows a punk duck and his cat friend stumbling through Los Angeles encountering aliens, monsters, and robot conspiracies.
Gutierrez called the project a "big experiment" and said he would be "as cautious as possible with AI," adding that a company "taking a chance on an original feels like a miracle these days." Critics worry his involvement lends credibility to Amazon's effort.
Amazon's AI Production Platform
All three shows use Project Nara, Amazon MGM Studios' proprietary generative video platform. The workspace combines third-party AI video models with Amazon's own models trained on existing intellectual property, integrating with software like Maya, Blender, Unreal Engine, and Adobe apps.
Albert Cheng, head of AI Studios at Amazon MGM Studios, said the fund and platform "position human creativity at the center of our efforts to integrate generative AI into our production processes."
The shows appear designed primarily as demonstrations of Project Nara's capabilities and target young audiences. No launch dates have been announced.
For creators working in animation and character design, the projects raise questions about how AI tools are trained and whether existing work receives proper credit or compensation. Brantz's response signals growing friction between studios deploying AI design tools and the artists whose work trains them.
Your membership also unlocks:
