Should AI Be Allowed in AMV Contests?

[gordonpiper]

Hey everyone,
Lately, I've been seeing a lot of editors experimenting with AI tools — from automatic beat-syncing to AI-generated motion masks and even entire background replacements. It made me wonder: where do we draw the line between creative assistance and losing the human touch that makes AMVs so special?
Would you consider an AMV made partly with AI effects (like Stable Diffusion scenes, AI rotoscoping, or voice isolation) eligible for contests or VCAs?
Or do you think that kind of editing breaks the spirit of what AMVs have always been — raw creativity, rhythm, and editing skill?
I’m really curious how everyone feels about this — especially veteran editors who've seen the community evolve over the years.
Have any of you tried using AI tools yet? If so, what’s been your experience?
Let's talk about the future of AMVs — is AI the next big tool… or the beginning of the end?

[Rider4Z]

Many contests are beginning to implement AI rules, while others don't care either way.

For Sakuracon, our TL;DR version is no generative AI, but you can use it as a tool for cleaning your source materials.

[Zarxrax]

I've got some thoughts on the matter, but like any big issue, it's complicated. While I would generally consider myself to be in favor of AI, I recognize that it brings problems along with it, and I can understand reasons why AMV contests may be opposed to some forms of it or find it problematic.

First, the positives. AMVs to me have always been a kind of creative outlet. I imagine something in my head, and then I want to bring that imagination to life. The actual result is usually compromised in some form or other, but it's exciting enough that I am still here after all these years. I see some of these AI tools as an incredible step forward in helping me bring my creative vision to life. They allow for things that I could have never done just a few years ago. The biggest problem that I run into with making AMVs has always been the restraints of the original source footage. I can't even count how many times I have simply had to give up on a video because footage that I wanted to exist simply didn't exist. In fact, just this week I had to give up on an idea that I had been dreaming about for months. But, I could make it happen with AI if I wanted to. So basically for me, I see these tools as removing restraints and letting me achieve my creative vision more freely. I can recall over twenty years ago being so excited when I saw a research demo of an automatic rotoscoping technique, and dreaming about the day when I would be able to use that in an AMV. That day is finally here.

AMV Contests can have all kinds of rules about what you can and can't do in your videos. Some contests might not want any audio from English dubs, or some might be heavy handed in censoring things that might not be family friendly. I think contest coordinators are trying their best to put on a good contest while weighing the needs of different stakeholders and making sure that things are fun and competitive. AI tools are probably going to make their jobs a lot harder in the short term though.

I predict that within 5 years, trying to restrict the use of AI is going to become a mess. We are going to see AI being used by animation studios, making it really hard to restrict when it's already burned into your footage. Editing software will continue adding more AI tools, blurring the lines between which tools may or may not be acceptable to use. Younger editors are going to be growing up around this technology, and may end up not really being able to differentiate what's AI assisted and what isn't. Do you know how the engine in your car works? Should you be expected to know the difference between how "content aware fill" and "generative fill" work?
And just think of images. AMV editors have forever just grabbed images off of the Internet and slapped them into their videos. Now, there is a very strong chance that when you find an image on Google, it has been generated or enhanced by AI. And you may not even be able to tell. How is that going to be restricted if the editor didn't even realize it?

When it comes to specific tools, I have not yet seen any pushback on AMV editors using masking/rotoscoping or voice isolation. Video upscaling and cleanup also seems to be fairly well accepted.

I've been using AI in my videos for several years now in one form or another. I've found voice isolation to be particularly useful at times. I have also used upscaling a fair bit (I have even trained my own upscaling and restoration models). I've only used rotoscoping a small bit despite developing my own tool to do it. My most recent video uses image generation and video generation to achieve some effects that I could not have done any other way. I'm also currently running up into the issue where I may have to make both an AI and Non-AI version of videos. It feels kind of bad to have to send what I consider the "lesser" version of a video into a contest, but it is what it is.

I have been putting together a document to list some various uses of AI, which contest coordinators or editors might find helpful. (For example, to help identify which tools or techniques might be considered acceptable or not acceptable)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pnr ... p=drivesdk

[athenasmith]

Hey everyone, Slope Run
Lately, I've been seeing a lot of editors experimenting with AI tools — from automatic beat-syncing to AI-generated motion masks and even entire background replacements. It made me wonder: where do we draw the line between creative assistance and losing the human touch that makes AMVs so special?
Would you consider an AMV made partly with AI effects (like Stable Diffusion scenes, AI rotoscoping, or voice isolation) eligible for contests or VCAs?
Or do you think that kind of editing breaks the spirit of what AMVs have always been — raw creativity, rhythm, and editing skill?
I’m really curious how everyone feels about this — especially veteran editors who've seen the community evolve over the years.
Have any of you tried using AI tools yet? If so, what’s been your experience?
Let's talk about the future of AMVs — is AI the next big tool… or the beginning of the end?

Great topic — and a really important one right now

[seasons]

Hey everyone, Slope Run
Lately, I've been seeing a lot of editors experimenting with AI tools — from automatic beat-syncing to AI-generated motion masks and even entire background replacements. It made me wonder: where do we draw the line between creative assistance and losing the human touch that makes AMVs so special?
Would you consider an AMV made partly with AI effects (like Stable Diffusion scenes, AI rotoscoping, or voice isolation) eligible for contests or VCAs?
Or do you think that kind of editing breaks the spirit of what AMVs have always been — raw creativity, rhythm, and editing skill?
I’m really curious how everyone feels about this — especially veteran editors who've seen the community evolve over the years.
Have any of you tried using AI tools yet? If so, what’s been your experience?
Let's talk about the future of AMVs — is AI the next big tool… or the beginning of the end?

Great topic — and a really important one right now

Do you have any actual thoughts about this yourself or are you just a bot? You registered an account just to post... this?

Cheers.

[laceproductions]

With all the forced AI tools being added into editing suites and newer tutorials for things like cleaning up footage, upscaling, ect that all rely on AI algorythms I would find it very difficult for a coordinator to enforce a rule completely outlawing all use of AI. In the end, at least, non-generative AI tools are just another form of algorithm that I don't view any different than the ones we all previously used. These tools however have the potential to be faster and better at their jobs than the old tricks. I know I've been dabling with learning them for upscale and cleanup myself and if tweaked right the results are better than avisynth tools that older guides discussed.

Personally, I'm in favor of generative AI bans however.

[TritioAFB]

Great Topic -- and a really important one right now

[Harmadillo]

short answer for me - for the most part - No. I intend to keep it this way at any contest I run or help run. AI slop has no place in a contest created to showcase human editors and entertain convention attendees.

That said - AI tools are integrated and do not violate the spirit of the competition necessarily (although they do worsen the capability gap created by available funding to use expensive AI tools).

This is the ruleset I plan to use at my 2026 competitions for Anime Dallas and Delta H Con:

_____________________________________

Rules regarding AI components in submissions:

This is intended to be a competition between human editors using human created source material. We merely wish to ensure that the AMVs shown meet that criteria. Please keep that in mind when submitting.

Specifics:
Songs or video sources created entirely or mostly by AI are not allowed.
AI scene selection, transition creation and auto titling are not allowed.
AI for new scene / background creation is not allowed.
Use of AMV Templates is heavily discouraged.
Use of AI integrated tools for functions like upscaling, interpolation, clip detection, text deletion, scene extension, rotoscoping, etc is allowed, but please be careful they are not changing the nature of the source material. They should only be used to reduce time performing tedious tasks or enhance the quality of the source material, not creating entirely new material. If using AI tools, please do frame by frame checks to ensure that un-intended artifacts are not present.

The Spirit of these rules is that the competition should be humans competing against humans, using content created by humans. Please use your best judgment in selecting techniques and sources to ensure that this is the case.

[XStylus]

Hey everyone,
Lately, I've been seeing a lot of editors experimenting with AI tools — from automatic beat-syncing to AI-generated motion masks and even entire background replacements. It made me wonder: where do we draw the line between creative assistance and losing the human touch that makes AMVs so special?
Would you consider an AMV made partly with AI effects (like Stable Diffusion scenes, AI rotoscoping, or voice isolation) eligible for contests or VCAs?
Or do you think that kind of editing breaks the spirit of what AMVs have always been — raw creativity, rhythm, and editing skill?
I’m really curious how everyone feels about this — especially veteran editors who've seen the community evolve over the years.
Have any of you tried using AI tools yet? If so, what’s been your experience?
Let's talk about the future of AMVs — is AI the next big tool… or the beginning of the end?

It's going to be an evolving issue, but it's one that the community needs to adapt to quickly, and I don't think a hard-line stance will end well.

AI rotoscoping, upscaling, and voice isolation is a non-issue to me. In my opinion that's technologically akin to reel-to-reel editing being supplanted by computerized NLEs.

I think the real quandary is with AI scene generation and voice replication to create scenes, dialogue, or songs lyrics that never existed. Plus there's also the matter that the tools to do so are pretty much trained on the art, skill, and style of others, and feels akin to theft. Given how many artists are in this community, I understand the impetus to just say "NO AI SLOP EVER". The vibe, rightfully, is to defend the human element of creativity.

I just dunno how long that stance can last though, since there's very little urge to regulate AI, and there's literal trillions of dollars being thrown at it. It's here to stay, and I think at some point we need to make some kind of peace with that.

That said, and regardless of the ethics (and need I remind, AMVs themselves exist in a shade of gray), there are some interesting AI vids out there. If we're not willing to welcome them into this community, a community and culture of their own will form in due course, and our community will diminish in relevance. I think that if we were to find a way to welcome AI video creation into this community, that provides an opportunity to stay relevant and have some kind of say in the culture of AI video creation.

I think convention contests should start considering a separate category (or even an entirely separate contest if it's an online event) for AI videos, at least on a non-competitive basis (and certainly non-competing against non-AI vids). I think initially that category would be small, but I'd wager that in about five years to a decade AI videos will become the majority, for better or worse. We need to start thinking about how to shape that future in a way that conserves the legacy, skill, and art of classic editing so as to allow both styles to co-exist.

But that would take getting past the whole "AI = Theft" vibe, and I can respect how bitter a pill to swallow that'd be amongst a community with quite a number of artists.