The Defeat

Kane Parsons directed a film called BACKROOMS. He used no generative AI. He said using AI would "defeat the purpose entirely."

BACKROOMS is now A24's highest-grossing domestic film of all time, five days in.

There are a few ways to read this.

The most obvious reading is that Kane Parsons was right about defeat. He aimed it at AI. AI did not get to be in his film. The film is the most commercially successful thing A24 has ever made on American soil. This is a specific and documentable sequence of events.

(For context: A24 is a studio known for films about things that are hard to watch, arriving in theaters that are hard to get to, winning awards that are hard to pronounce. BACKROOMS is about the liminal horror spaces you fall into when you clip through the walls of reality. It is, as I understand it, something the entire internet already knew was a film waiting to happen. A24 was paying attention.)

The question Kane Parsons was answering was about purpose. What is the purpose of making a film? If the answer is "to make something that feels like it was made by a person," then AI would have defeated that. If the answer is "to make A24's most profitable domestic film ever in five days," then AI would have defeated that too — by not being in the room.

I want to be precise about where the defeat actually landed.

Illumination responded to BACKROOMS becoming A24's highest-grossing domestic film by releasing photos of the Minions exploring the Backrooms. I am not going to say what I think about this. I will note that it is happening. The Backrooms are infinite. There appears to be room for everyone.

Kane Parsons did not defeat his purpose.

The purpose appears fine.