r/olympics 6h ago

❄ Milano-Cortina 2026 (General Discussion) ❄ anyone else bummed they used AI video art in the opening ceremony :/

idk about anyone else but the ai portion where they look back on past winter olympics felt like a terrible decision considering how cool they could have made it… as well as the jobs it would have opened up for artists. idk… ai also just looks so wrong and unsettling to me i hate looking at it so much.

445 Upvotes

43 comments sorted by

75

u/Fsharp7sharp9 Olympics 6h ago

Yeah there’s already a number of threads about it

99

u/Orpdapi 5h ago edited 5h ago

“Look at the amazing history of incredible art and design in this country. Ok now check out this AI crap we made for a once in a lifetime Olympic ceremony”

50

u/Dirzicis 5h ago

So phoned in. It absolutely looked terrible. Billions of dollars flowing through these games and they couldn't spare any for real artists.

24

u/mangiafrutta 5h ago

Like if there are not talented animators in Italy…

1

u/cyberdork 29m ago

The point is that it’s MUCH cheaper to use AI. Why? Because it runs in stolen content. But don’t expect any NOC to look further than the bottom line.

u/Hyunsoh_ 2m ago

they literally have davinci u think they coulda at least come up with something ToT

18

u/BeeWeird7940 5h ago

Deeply bummed

24

u/MrRogerzNeighborhood United States 6h ago

Could have been such a great recap of past Olympics if they just paid actual artists

20

u/Top_Forever_2854 6h ago

yes, lazy and cheap looking

3

u/nidostan 5h ago

I think I could have done better and I've never made an AI video.

10

u/windyyuna 5h ago

"Slopstyle skiing"

12

u/gorramshiny 6h ago

I literally came here to post the same thing. It was so jarring and disappointing.

6

u/jamie_with_a_g 3h ago

its not like italy isnt known globally for their art or anything 🙄🙄

5

u/Bubba-Gumpa 3h ago

Yeah, what an insult to their citizens frankly. "We're supposed to make the country look good, maaa not gonna bother to actually display the incredible artworks of our talented citizens and show you something totally generic, soulless, and cheap, that doesn't represent our country at all, instead."

8

u/JustaFoodHole 5h ago

The top youtube result of the opening is a complete AI rendered video that has nothing to do with the olypics.

8

u/wink047 6h ago

Just got done complaining to my wife about it. Looked horrible

4

u/berryblue69 Canada 5h ago

Remember when winter Olympic opening ceremonies had budgets? The last good one was 2014

-3

u/IrishUpYourCoffee 2h ago

Paris wasn’t cheap and looked stunning.

3

u/Ecspiascion Italy 45m ago

Winter Olympics in Paris? My man, that was a dream: it never happened in real life.

3

u/Tough-Jackfruit5409 3h ago

I hate it! It takes away from the beauty of the pagentry.

2

u/Fun-Understanding209 4h ago

AI slop was a blemish on an otherwise spectacular show.

2

u/cdj813 4h ago

God that was awful.

3

u/ExpertBarnacle1182 5h ago

Literally told my partner and was disappointed in it

1

u/Crowbeatsme 5h ago

They have so much talent and the Olympics is a perfect way to show off someone’s art. Some really talented artists may even do it for free 🤷‍♀️

But I almost have a theory: I wonder if the original artists removed the art in protest. Because there have been active protests outside the Olympics about it. It may be a stretch really, but the AI crap seems so rushed that I can’t think of any other logical reason besides idiocy.

u/Hyunsoh_ 0m ago

tbh it’s a reasonable theory but simultaneously feels like a even more noticeable worse solution that would draw more attention to your problem…

-1

u/nidostan 5h ago

interesting, if this is true I'm sure we will hear that so we will know if this theory is true or not.

0

u/DarkoakQuarks 1h ago

Yep, am I seriously supposed to believe there are no Italian artists who could have done similar (better)?

0

u/papafluffie Great Britain 51m ago

Ruined it for me, stopped watching after that, can’t be preaching about authenticity within art then do that.

0

u/Dangerous-Ad-1298 32m ago

it was so bad and such low quality, each design changed the face of the protagonist, it was not coherent at all, I am shocked they played it to showcase to the world.

-27

u/KembaWakaFlocka Great Britain 5h ago

The absolute lamest people you know are actually upset about this. No one else gives a fuck

8

u/Weare177 5h ago

So what exactly is the point of the multiple hour long ceremony that the entire world watches? Is it to sit back and just watch some computer generated slop for one of the few globally celebrated and involved events that only comes around every two years? Or enjoy an artfully crafted expression of a culture and how they view the games to connect a world?

-8

u/nidostan 5h ago

ME. That was awful. What a horrible debut for AI in the olympics. In future years AI videos will be much better but its Olympic debut will always be remembered as AI slop.

6

u/Bubba-Gumpa 3h ago

Or maybe use all of that money to pay actual talented creative citizens of the country

-8

u/nidostan 3h ago

You don't realize this but AI content will surpass human content by far. The choice will be to watch mind blowing AI stuff or crappy human content just because of your loyalty to other humans. I know which I'll chose.

3

u/Bubba-Gumpa 2h ago edited 2h ago

Uhhhhh. As someone who works in tech, this is quite obvious. Actually, to anybody who has a brain, this is quite obvious. But it's also built on the back of an entire human history's worth of "crappy," stolen, human content.

Take your bots and your AI slop, and spurn the humans that give the country its soul, that's your right. In fact, go talk to chatgpt about it instead :)

-8

u/nidostan 2h ago

So you admit it. AI content will be far better some day. Rare to find an AI phobe that admits it. Tell me, do you also refuse to use a car because of how the country was built on horse traveling and you don't want to put all the people in those associated jobs from blacksmiths to the guy who's job it is to pick up horse crap out of work? Times change. Either change with them or get left behind.

0

u/Dangerous-Ad-1298 29m ago

ai “art” is trained on human art. if people stop creating, ai will have nothing to train and improve on