Dublin Simon Community and LOBO Launch Ireland’s First Brand Film Made with AI

Irish homelessness charity, Dublin Simon Community, is today launching a brand film using cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technology, in a first for Ireland. 

Created by advertising agency BBDO Dublin and New York-based mixed-media company LOBO, the film entitled 'UNFAIR CITY' is one of the most advanced uses of the technology to date and will be used to highlight the growing inequality of homelessness as it hopes to raise much-needed funds for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

'UNFAIR CITY' tells the story of Justin Cannon. Formerly homeless, Justin now advocates and volunteers for Dublin Simon. Justin was interviewed and his story was animated using AI image generators. In this sense, the AI imagery was created in Justin’s own words. The end result is a beautiful and moving film that feels true to Justin’s experience. It also shows how, almost counterintuitively, the use of AI can help make the telling of the story feel human and authentic by protecting the person’s dignity and privacy.

Although the images are created with AI technology, using tools such as Midjourney and Disco Diffusion, care was taken to work with artists in creating the overall effect. 'UNFAIR CITY' was created in partnership with multi-award-winning director Diogo Kalil of LOBO and illustrator Vini Bustamante. They helped to fill the context around Justin’s words and shape the visual style of the film. The images are presented in a watercolour style. The unpolished brush strokes and abstract use of the images helped maintain humanity while using AI. 

This AI project was born out of a desire to find new ways of highlighting the country’s  homelessness crisis, a problem that has been getting steadily worse every year. It has become more challenging for charities to illustrate the impact and complex issues around homelessness and to inspire the public to offer help as the issue spirals out of control. It is also becoming ever more difficult and challenging for those who are homeless to tell their stories. To help to increase levels of engagement, Dublin Simon deliberately utilised one of the most exciting areas of technology, Artificial Intelligence, to create a film that would garner wider interest and appeal to a new audience of younger, more technologically-minded donors.

All work carried out by the advertising agency BBDO Dublin, director Diogo Kalil of LOBO, and illustrator Vini Bustamante was completed on a pro-bono basis for Dublin Simon Community.

Visit here to donate to Dublin Simon to help those who are vulnerable in our society due to homelessness and help make Dublin Fair again.