If Disney leadership has its way, we’ll be inundated with endless Star Wars reboots, sequels, and spinoffs until the Sun eventually explodes. And what better way to keep this constant churn going than by leveraging good old generative AI? Unfortunately, as highlighted by 404 Media, we’ve just had a glimpse of what this could look like. Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), the legendary visual effects studio behind nearly every Star Wars film, recently released a demo showcasing how AI might supercharge depictions of the beloved sci-fi universe. Unsurprisingly, it looks absolutely, flabbergastingly terrible. The demo, titled “Star Wars: Field Guide, ” was unveiled during a recent TED talk by ILM’s chief creative officer Rob Bredow, who emphasized it was merely a test—“not a final product”—created by a single artist in two weeks. The concept was to simulate sending a probe droid to a new Star Wars planet, Bredow explained. However, what unfolds doesn’t feel remotely like Star Wars. Instead, it’s a collection of generic, nature documentary-style shots featuring some of the most absurd creature designs imaginable. All the creatures strikingly resemble real Earth animals, reinforcing criticisms of generative AI as merely repurposing existing art. You can watch the demo yourself, but here’s a quick summary of the monstrosities displayed—all with that unmistakable fake AI glow. A blue tiger sporting a lion’s mane. A manatee with obvious squid tentacles pasted onto its snout. An ape with stripes. A polar bear with stripes. A peacock that’s actually a snail.

A blue elk randomly sporting brown ears. A monkey-spider hybrid. A zebra-rhino combo. Need we say more? “None of those creatures look like they belong in Star Wars, ” commented one viewer on the TED talk video. “They’re clearly just two Earth animals crudely fused together. ” Make no mistake: ILM is a trailblazer in the special effects world. Founded by George Lucas during the making of the original Star Wars, ILM pioneered many of the visual feats filmmakers now rely on and was key in advancing CGI technology. Their credits span from Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park to Starship Troopers. Which makes it all the more disheartening to see them yielding to a technology that dilutes the very art form they helped perfect. What ILM presents here is a far cry from the iconic creature designs Star Wars fans revere—Tauntauns and Ewoks, for example. There is room for debate on how much AI should factor into filmmaking, especially when it comes to labor, and Bredow touches on this by noting that ILM has historically combined cutting-edge tech with tried-and-true methods. He reassures that real artists remain essential and that “innovation thrives when old and new technologies blend together. ” This stance is reasonable. But jumping from this cautious approach to showcasing entirely AI-generated creatures sends a confusing and contradictory message. More on AI in movies: Disney Claims Its “Fantastic Four” Posters Aren’t AI, They Just End Up Looking Like Absolute Garbage