Kartoon Studios has unveiled Gadget AI, a proprietary generative artificial intelligence toolkit and workflow designed to enable the development, production and postproduction of new animated content.
The technology also aims to revitalize and upgrade the quality and distribution reach of thousands of existing catalog episodes and acquisitions. Spearheading the initiative is Todd Steinman, who has been appointed chief AI officer alongside his current role as president of Toon Media Networks.
Gadget AI leverages NVIDIA Omniverse core technologies for OpenUSD and NVIDIA RTX ray tracing to facilitate collaboration, real-time simulation and rendering, and will encompass a spectrum of other production services, including character design, scriptwriting, music, animation, resolution enhancement and dubbing.
Andy Heyward, chairman and CEO of Kartoon Studios and co-creator of the Inspector Gadget franchise, stated: “During the past year, we have dedicated a great deal of time and resources to understanding the opportunities with AI as it pertains to our business and has Has spoken extensively with leaders in the field. Our commitment to harnessing AI reflects a pivotal shift in our industry’s approach to content creation and distribution. By connecting various tools via OpenUSD into Gadget AI with NVIDIA Omniverse, we aim to streamline production processes, accelerate quality and significantly reduce both time to market and expenditures. Todd has done a brilliant job of using technology to turn Kartoon Channel! to profit in record time for a streaming service, and his fluency in digital technology makes him a natural fit to lead this initiative into the future.”
Richard Kerris, VP of developer relations and head of media and entertainment at NVIDIA, said: “AI has reshaped the media and entertainment landscape, driving demands for more cutting-edge technology to maintain productivity and efficiency. By leveraging NVIDIA RTX GPUs and the Omniverse development platform, Kartoon Studios will equip producers and media professionals with new tools and applications to elevate their workflows to the next level.”
Heyward added: “Our focus lies in redefining production paradigms and creating opportunities. With Gadget AI, we anticipate cost savings and accelerated time to market, all while fostering job growth. We anticipate this new cutting-edge approach will enable our products to become more profitable while offering a better experience for viewers.”
Steinman commented, “Gadget AI integrates cutting-edge technologies, including video synthesis, neural radiance fields and video style transfers, in conjunction with NVIDIA Omniverse and deep learning AI, to elevate animation quality while optimizing production efficiencies. AI gadgets also revolutionize the dubbing process, traditionally a laborious and costly endeavor. By leveraging AI-driven solutions, Kartoon Studios anticipates accelerated global market entry for its content, marking a significant leap forward in animation distribution.
“As part of our ethical AI use and supporting our desire to protect our own intellectual property, we plan to use Bria.ai, which employs licensed, certified datasets to ensure our AI-driven animation production respects copyrights and upholds the integrity of original content .”
Heyward said: “Forty years ago, we created Inspector Gadget, a simple 2D cartoon, which decades later was recognized in Vanity Fair for predicting many of the technologies that have become part of our daily modern life, from Google search to smartwatches, iPads, iPods, Google Maps and more. It seemed only fitting that we name our AI platform, which we believe will revolutionize the way animation is produced going forward, Gadget AI”