AI Unchained by Luis Rau

None of this exists. No skater, no board, no spot.

I keep going back to skating because it’s one of the hardest things to fake. Body, board, speed and gravity all doing their own thing in the same frame.

Two things are wrong. The wheels change shape while the board is rotating, and the shadow of the board is off when he flips. Any skater will see both.

That’s still where the best AI models break.

Six months ago you didn’t have to be a skater. The board floated off on its own, feet never came back where they should, and every model went to slow motion the second a trick started. You knew from the first frame.

Now it takes a skater, pausing the video.

AI is just another tool. This time around it’s a tool really worth learning.

One of the biggest surf brands in the world commented game recognizes game on my AI surf film. One of the best water photographers alive replied under that same comment asking what the game is.

Same thread. Same film. One saw a film, the other saw a problem.

A brand needs one thing from an image. It has to make people feel something. A photographer sells that too, wrapped in the years and the risk and the craft. The process was part of the product.

Surf is the worst possible example for my own argument. Real people doing real things. I’d rather see the real thing too.

Which is why it matters that it happened here. If a surf brand engages with AI in the genre where the real thing is the whole point, think about everywhere the audience never asked.

Directing AI like a filmmaker is what I teach inside AI Unchained. Link in bio 🎬

None of this exists. No board, no skater, not skateboarding. The board glitches on one landing.

And you’re still grading AI video that’s about a year into being usable against footage people have been shooting for decades. The gap is a couple of frames, and it’s closing.

What won’t close is the rest of it. The AI model executes, it doesn’t direct. Simulated Kodak, chosen not defaulted. A palette locked before anything moved. A kid cast and dressed for the story, not the frame.

The tool gets easier every month. The decisions don’t. Learn it now. 🎬

None of this exists. No skater, no board, no stairs.

I picked skateboarding because it’s one of the hardest things to fake. Body, board, speed and gravity all doing their own thing in the same frame.

Half a year ago these shots were not viable. Feet came off the board, the board floated on its own, and every model went to slow motion the second a trick started. This one has one mistake left in it. The board morphs on the flip. Watch the last second.

But on the video side, the distance between this and real footage is getting really narrow.

AI is just another tool. This time around it’s a tool worth learning.

One of the best water photographers alive called my AI surf series easy. He’s right. Nobody got smashed on a reef for these frames.

And sure, it still looks funny in places. Sure, it’s not the same. But that’s not the point I’m making. Most people never don’t watch a shot because of how it was made. You watch because it makes you feel something.

AI is just another tool. Directing it like a filmmaker is what I teach inside AI Unchained. Link in bio 🎬