The critters on The Masked Singer(and, if we’re being honest, the entire concept of The Masked Singer) are already uncanny enough without the influence of the same technology that gave us Shrimp Jesus. For better or worse, we may be about to learn what AI’s version of The Masked Singer and other beloved game shows would look like.
Per Deadline, an Israeli AI company called Gamechanger is currently plotting a U.S. expansion. Gamechanger has already found success overseas with its AI-assisted production software that promises to cut costs by up to 90%. How does it do that, you may ask? The answer is by removing almost every ounce of human artifice, naturally. While Gamechanger’s shows feature real people in front of the camera (at least as of this writing), the technology takes care of almost everything else. Game show participants jump around in a black box while AI stitches in completely fabricated sets, alternate “camera” angles, timing adjustments, and even language changes in post. You can watch the process here (scored to appropriately unsettling music, no less).
Gamechanger has already been used to produce over 400 episodes of four different shows—including Bingo Blitz from the clip above, Family Piggy Bank, Beat The Grid, and Tic-Tac-Dough—that have been broadcast in the Netherlands, Turkey, Thailand, Portugal, Mexico, and more. Unfortunately for gaffers, set designers, and other game show-related creatives, that means the technology is not only fast but incredibly scalable.
Now, Gamechanger is looking to bring that technology to American networks and streaming services, either by tinkering with pre-existing formats or creating new ones from scratch. Deadline notes that as the industry wrings its hands about productions moving out of the country to cut costs, this technology could be part of the solution—with a pretty major caveat, of course: “Even if the public dialogue on how to take financial benefit from AI while preserving jobs will, of course, be ongoing.” Yeah, that’s a pretty big “even if.”
