Design-driven studio Modern Logic has added AI OR DIE, a creative collaborative who recently scored with the viral mock trailer “Karen: Unleashed,” created entirely in AI.
The signing marks a first for Modern Logic which is looking to build a new kind of talent roster of tech-forward creative thinkers built for an evolving media landscape.
“Tech-forward content creators like AI OR DIE are the new pioneers in digital storytelling,” said Michael Bennett, Modern Logic’s founder/managing director. “They’re leveraging emerging technologies to craft innovative, immersive, and engaging content. When I look at the design, visual effects industry now, I think it’s crucial to work with different types of creators, just as we always have, who prioritize agility, adapting to new platforms, trends, and audience behaviors while still maintaining an authentic voice. This is in Modern Logic’s DNA, and it’s what AI OR DIE, as a creative trio, are all about. Their approach blends storytelling with cutting-edge tech to create dynamic, scalable, and content that is wholly original and incredible to see.”
A collaborative trio consisting of Nathan Boey, Bengt Tibert and Mind Wank, AI OR DIE first brought their diverse backgrounds in filmmaking, editing, animation, and advertising together in 2024 intent on leveraging AI tools to create something totally new with the technology.
Their first exploit–AI OR DIE: The First 100% AI Sketch Comedy Show–a completely AI-generated, manically-paced, visually-stunning sketch comedy show containing a bundle of hilarious and bizarre observations that mock the current state of advertising, media, tech, and modern life in general.
“The three of us started by making and sharing our work online, and over time, we became friends,” Wank said. “In June 2024, we all looked at each other, virtually of course, and said, ‘Let’s do something bigger.’ That was when we started working on episode one of what became AI OR DIE. Now we are excited to take our collective to the next level with Modern Logic.”
The trio’s most recent project is the “Karen: Unleashed” mock trailer and its accompanying behind-the-scenes short, created entirely using selective AI tools. Seen by millions on social media in just a few weeks, the AI OR DIE trailer imagines a film about a bad-ass Karen with a complex backstory: pushed to the edge from the stress of a loveless marriage, a demeaning job, and disrespect from all, until one day, she really insists on speaking to the manager. The trailer captures every over-the-top action trope you’d find in a revenge-fueled actioner–with moments that include blazing gun battles, merciless bad guys, and a slow-mo burning Whole Foods.
Thinking about the AI revolution and what it might mean for creativity, Boey said, “Each time some new artistic tool is developed and democratizes the process in some way, fear is usually the initial response that creative people won’t be needed, but that’s misleading because you need creative experts and craftspeople to use these tools to elevate it into art–to something people actually want to see.”
Tibert added, “AI technology is a tool for unbounded creativity, not just photorealistic reproduction–we’re constantly exploring new ways to push the boundaries of what is possible as filmmakers.”
From Bennett’s perspective, there are a lot of companies using AI, and even just the acronym, in ways that are limiting. “So many brands and agencies are just chasing imagery to get that ‘gee-whiz’ look at AI’s capabilities. But AI OR DIE is about more than that. They represent what AI can be in the hands of skilled designers, engineers, writers, and visual effects artists. There’s going to be more and more potential to make content that liberates creativity with limitless possibilities.”
Modern Logic’s credits, meanwhile, include 2024 Cannes Titanium-winning work directed by Mike Diva of sister production company Lord Danger for DoorDash out of Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
