[Edaily Reporter Lee So-Hyun ] Kakao(035720)has produced the first artificial intelligence (AI)-generated short animated film featuring "Ryan," the flagship character of Kakao Friends, using OpenAI’s image-generation technology. Rather than simply using AI-generated images as-is, the film was completed by entering numerous prompts for each scene, with humans selecting the results and refining them.

Kakao announced on the 10th that it is releasing the short animated film “Still, Ryan,” produced through a technical collaboration with OpenAI.

Based on the webtoon of the same name, the approximately 5-minute film was produced by combining the creator’s planning and direction with “ChatGPT images.”

Director Han Ji-won, who directed the Netflix animated series “What This Planet Needs,” and AI Supervisor Kim Young-jun participated in the project.

During production, the team entered prompts into ChatGPT based on scene sketches and desired visual expressions to generate images, which the two creators then directly edited and refined.

Kakao explained that, in particular, they utilized approximately 1,500 prompts to refine the direction and visual style for each scene in order to complete a single scene.

“Ultimately, human judgment determines the quality of AI-generated results”

Kim Young-jun, AI Supervisor, said, “No matter how excellent the images generated by AI were, if they didn’t align with the emotions the work intended to convey, we had to rework them.” He added, “We repeated the process of selecting and modifying the results until we reached the desired scene, and it was the creators’ judgment and touch embedded in that process that determined the quality of the final work.”

Director Han Ji-won explained, “The story began with the idea that even Ryan—a familiar and lovable character—has his own worries and dreams,” adding, “I put a lot of effort into the direction to ensure that Ryan’s feelings came across even without dialogue or dramatic facial expressions.”

Previously, on the 8th, Kakao held a special screening and a Q&A session with the director at Movie Land in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. In addition to the screening of the film, the event featured an exhibition showcasing the collaborative production process between AI and humans. Tickets for the Q&A session sold out in less than a day after going on sale.

The full version of “Still, Ryan” is scheduled to be released on the 11th via Ryan’s official Instagram, the Kakao Friends YouTube channel, and OpenAI’s Instagram and YouTube channels.

A Kakao representative stated, “This project was conceived to tell the story of a familiar character in a new way to celebrate Ryan’s 10th anniversary,” adding, “It is Ryan’s first AI-animated film, meticulously refined by human hands.”