New Lexus ES gets promo video created using bespoke AI

The Lexus ES gets a new promotional video created by bespoke Artificial Intelligence and put together by Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald.

If you have a ‘Creative’ job, you probably think your job is safe as machines take over; after all, creative jobs need human input. Or do they?

Judging by a new promotional video for the Lexus ES, the days of creative bods using ‘blue sky thinking’ and being able to ‘think outside the box’ may be numbered, as Artificial Intelligence (AI) takes over.

Lexus has used bespoke AI to deliver an advert for the new ES (although it has been directed by Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald), telling the story of a Lexus Master Craftsman completing a new ES for the world and finding it threatened by destruction, only to be saved by the car’s emergency braking system.

The AI used to write the script was trained by swallowing 15 years’ worth of award-winning car adverts, primed with emotional intelligence data to learn what tugs at viewers’ emotions and given data on Lexus brand and objectives.

The result is a minute-long advert video for the new ES (below) which looks pretty much as you’d expect any advert for a new car from Lexus to look. Which we guess is the point.

Kevin Macdonald said:

This was both a highly challenging and deeply fascinating project to have had the privilege to be a part of. From the outset, it was almost impossible to know what level of quality or intelligibility the AI would produce.

To see the project brought together with such a rich finished piece is extremely satisfying and exciting to witness. We believe this project moves AI-generated content into the beginnings of true, stand-alone creative merit.

The new Lexus ES is now on sale in the UK.

Lexus ES AI Advert Video