Amazon has invested in Fable, a San Francisco AI startup launching Showrunner, which the company bills as the “Netflix of AI” for creating user-directed TV episodes through text prompts. The platform allows users to generate animated scenes or full episodes either from scratch or within existing story worlds, representing Amazon’s bet on interactive AI entertainment as a new medium rather than just a cost-cutting tool.
What you should know: Showrunner launches publicly this week after months in closed alpha testing with 10,000 users, initially free but eventually charging creators $10-$20 monthly for credits to generate hundreds of TV scenes.
- Users can create content within two original “shows”: “Exit Valley,” a satirical comedy about AI tech leaders like Sam Altman and Elon Musk, and “Everything Is Fine,” about a couple transported to an alternate world after fighting at Ikea.
- The platform is powered by Fable’s proprietary SHOW-2 AI model and focuses on animated content to reduce processing requirements compared to photorealistic video.
- Anyone can view Showrunner content for free and share AI-generated videos on YouTube or other platforms.
The big picture: CEO Edward Saatchi envisions AI entertainment as fundamentally different from traditional media, more closely resembling interactive video games than passive viewing experiences.
- “Hollywood streaming services are about to become two-way entertainment: audiences watching a season of a show [and] loving it will now be able to make new episodes with a few words and become characters with a photo,” Saatchi said.
- The company is discussing partnerships with Disney and other Hollywood studios to license intellectual property for the platform, though Saatchi admits uncertainty about user demand: “Maybe nobody wants this and it won’t work.”
Key limitations: Current AI technology struggles with long-form storytelling, making Showrunner better suited for episodic content rather than complex narrative arcs.
- “Today AI can’t sustain a story beyond one episode,” Saatchi acknowledged. “What AI is strongest at is deeply episodic shows with characters largely resetting every episode — sitcoms, police procedurals, space exploration.”
- The platform includes guardrails against offensive content and copyright infringement, plus story logic checks to ensure character consistency.
Who else is involved: Fable has raised funding from Amazon, Day One Ventures, 8VC, and Greycroft, though Amazon’s investment amount remains undisclosed.
- Saatchi previously co-founded Oculus Story Studios, which produced the Emmy-winning VR title “Henry” before Meta shut it down in 2017 due to limited VR adoption.
- The 15-employee company pivoted from VR to AI-powered interactive storytelling in 2019 following lessons learned from VR’s market challenges.
What they’re saying: Alpha testers showed unexpected interest in inserting themselves into fictional worlds rather than just creating original content.
- “People are interested in putting themselves and their friends into these stories. That was a surprise,” Saatchi said. “We didn’t design it with that in mind.”
- Jacob Madden, Fable’s head of technology, emphasized the platform’s creative potential: “Showrunner redefines what a TV show can be and I cannot wait to see what stories emerge next.”
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