Amazon Is Making an AI-Animated ‘Good Advice Cupcake’ TV Show. Its Original Creator Is Furious

["Author and illustrator Loryn Brantz never imagined that a popular cartoon character she created almost a decade ago would one day be the subject of an intellectual property dispute involving BuzzFeed, Amazon's video streaming service, and generative artificial intelligence. But that's exactly the situation she finds herself in today. Brantz created the character, known as Good Advice Cupcake, or Cuppy, as a way to offer motivational advice in a humorous and cute way.", 'Brantz\'s character first gained popularity in 2017 with a comic featuring an anthropomorphic and innocent-looking cupcake whose demeanor violently shifts as she suggests that "when life gets you down, you gotta grab it by the balls—and make life your bitch." The character is 100 percent based on Brantz\'s own personality as being someone who is aggressively optimistic and nearly pathologically positive.

"It was a way for me to yell motivational advice at people in a cute and humorous way," Brantz tells WIRED.', 'Brantz began writing and illustrating for BuzzFeed in 2014, and it was there that she developed the Good Advice Cupcake character further. She produced eight episodes of a Good Advice Cupcake web series with BuzzFeed, which ran through the summer of 2019. However, Brantz claims that "nothing said in good faith by managers and executives was followed through with" at BuzzFeed.

This week, she shared an Instagram post calling out the company for licensing her character to Prime Video, which plans to release a series called Cupcake & Friends, developed with AI tools.', 'Brantz is furious about the deal, declaring in her post that "this is an assault on artists everywhere." She blasted BuzzFeed and Amazon for their plans to turn her character into a "soulless AI puppet," and encouraged her followers to boycott the companies. "I encourage you to boycott BuzzFeed and any AI-produced or adjacent animation," she wrote. The situation highlights the challenges faced by creators in the age of AI, and the need for greater protections and transparency in intellectual property deals.', "The Cupcake & Friends series is one of three new animated shows greenlit through the GenAI Creators' Fund, a joint initiative of Amazon Web Services and Amazon MGM Studios.

Media mogul Byron Allen recently became BuzzFeed's chairman and CEO after buying a majority stake in the brand for $120 million, describing plans to leverage AI to turn BuzzFeed into a YouTube competitor. Brantz, currently an executive creative director for the YouTube educator Ms. Rachel, had licensed her own character from BuzzFeed for her content, including a Good Advice Cupcake page on Instagram that has more than 2 million followers."]