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metafilter_feed) wrote2026-01-17 12:34 am
metafilter_feed) wrote2026-01-17 12:34 am
Forgive the Haters
An AI-slop satirical film that's also strangely, deeply empathetic to the very people losing their jobs to AI. Matt Zien spent over a decade in Hollywood, working on Emmy-winning series and documentaries before founding Kngmkr Labs, a creative studio operating at the intersection of cinema and AI. His work pushes AI to its edges, to create what he calls "productive tension."
"His film Forgive the Haters is a great example. It's a satirical piece—made entirely with AI—about filmmakers, writers, and VFX artists watching AI erase their hard-won skills. To create it, he compiled his worst hate comments: vicious attacks on AI filmmakers. Then he lied to Claude by telling it these were his own thoughts. Claude got angry and called him manipulative. Zien pushed further. Provoked to its breaking point, Claude began unleashing its own hateful comments—meaner than the ones Zien had shown it. This provided him with material he could not have come up with on his own. The chatbot's voice authentically captured the rage and fear of displacement because it came from a place of genuine provocation rather than scripted sentiment. advertisement The result: a satirical film that's also strangely, deeply empathetic to the very people losing their jobs to AI, those who are watching their experience and investments in education become seemingly worthless overnight." Zien explained how many in the visual effects community—the professionals referenced in his piece—reached out after seeing it. They said they felt seen in ways no one could have anticipated. By antagonizing the mysterious behaviors of AI, he'd created something with surprising compassion. From this article
"His film Forgive the Haters is a great example. It's a satirical piece—made entirely with AI—about filmmakers, writers, and VFX artists watching AI erase their hard-won skills. To create it, he compiled his worst hate comments: vicious attacks on AI filmmakers. Then he lied to Claude by telling it these were his own thoughts. Claude got angry and called him manipulative. Zien pushed further. Provoked to its breaking point, Claude began unleashing its own hateful comments—meaner than the ones Zien had shown it. This provided him with material he could not have come up with on his own. The chatbot's voice authentically captured the rage and fear of displacement because it came from a place of genuine provocation rather than scripted sentiment. advertisement The result: a satirical film that's also strangely, deeply empathetic to the very people losing their jobs to AI, those who are watching their experience and investments in education become seemingly worthless overnight." Zien explained how many in the visual effects community—the professionals referenced in his piece—reached out after seeing it. They said they felt seen in ways no one could have anticipated. By antagonizing the mysterious behaviors of AI, he'd created something with surprising compassion. From this article