Inside ‘Sh(AI)ved,’ the AI-Created Vintage Adult Film Collection Unveiled at Cannes: ‘Splendid, Volcanic Orgasms’

Fifty years ago, a young woman named Hannah pleasured herself in a erotic magazine photo spread. This week, thanks to generative AI, she did it again – this time with a voiceover.

The first volume of “Sh(AI)ved” — a collection of AI-generated short films drawn from erotic magazine photo spreads published 50 years ago — made its debut on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, and is now streaming on Cultpix.

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Thomas Meier, of the Norwegian firm Multiformat, deployed the latest generative AI tools to convert still images from 1976 magazine photo spreads into fully animated video, complete with color, synchronized sound, dialogue and voiceover.

Variety took a deep dive into the films to see what the fuss is all about.

The first short in the collection, the titular “Sh(AI)ved,” begins with the usual montage of naked women pleasuring themselves that mid-70s adult films normally commenced with. It’s all set to a soundtrack known variously as “wah-wah music” or “porn funk” – the latter referring to the strutting, bass-heavy funk grooves that became synonymous with the era. The genre is also sometimes called “sexploitation music” or, more colloquially, “bow-chicka-wow-wow,” heavy on electric guitar riffs.

The film itself begins with a tight close-up of the shaved pudenda of a young woman named Hannah (as a voiceover informs us), who is engaged in self stimulation. At the same time, the VO reminisces about a “tender time” with a young female friend, but how “something was missing.” The VO continues in a philosophical manner as the self stimulation advances. Hannah then makes a phone call to a male friend and in his absence, makes do with a vibro-massager.

This is followed by what the VO describes as “a randy orgy with best friends,” where three women have arrived with clean-shaven pudenda (you can see there’s a theme emerging here). “Gone were the annoying and wearisome little hairs that used to get in their way, often completely destroying the frail, sensuous atmosphere,” we are informed. The women then proceed to enjoy acrobatic sex in a number of positions, permutations and combinations, sometimes involving dildos and strap-ons, with plenty of loud moaning and the aforementioned bow-chicka-wow-wow music. All of these result in “splendid, volcanic orgasms” for all.

The final short in the first volume is titled “After-Movie Party,” where two male-female couples (who we are told swap partners) get amorous after a late-night movie and begin having sex. One of the men isn’t enjoying himself while performing cunnilingus on his partner, as her pubic hair gets in the way. The men proceed to shave the women’s pudenda — you may have noticed this theme by now — and much energetic sex is had by all.

For aficionados of 1970s adult films, “Sh(AI)ved” — and others that will surely follow it its wake — will be of much interest. For those who are not, and might only be interested in the march of AI, the films should still be fascinating. In terms of how it looks, the decor is authentic 1970s and the humans are amazingly photo-realistic, especially in their faces and bodies. Its only when it comes to extreme close ups of genitals do the plasticky nature of AI, aspiring to be photo-realistic, become evident.

“Sh(AI)ved” is, depending on your perspective, a novelty, a provocation, or a genuine milestone in the long, complicated history of moving images. Probably all three. The technology is not yet seamless – AI, it turns out, handles faces and mid-shots with remarkable aplomb but loses its nerve in extreme close-up, where flesh turns to plastic and the illusion slips. But as a proof of concept for what generative AI can do with archival still photography, and as a time capsule that captures both the aesthetic and the philosophical innocence of 1970s erotica, it is hard to look away. Future volumes will presumably iron out the technical wrinkles. For now, the most arresting thing about “Sh(AI)ved” may be how quaint it all feels – which, one suspects, is precisely the point.