Kakao will collaborate with OpenAI to present its first AI short animation using Ryan, a Kakao Friends character.

Kakao said on Monday it will release the roughly five-minute animation, “Still, Ryan,” based on the webtoon of the same name, online on Nov. 11.

The work involves animation director Han Ji-won (한지원) and AI supervisor Kim Young-jun (김영준). OpenAI’s ChatGPT Image feature is used in the production process.

The production team generated images based on sketches of animation scenes and prompts, then completed the scenes by directly editing the results. Kakao said about 1,500 prompts were used in producing some scenes.

“Still, Ryan” tells a story of Ryan confronting his worries and dreams and finding his own path. The animation was produced by not only using AI to generate images, but also having the director and production team select and edit the results to adjust the directing approach.

Ahead of the release, Kakao held a special screening and a talk with the director on Nov. 8 at Movieland in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. The venue also hosted an exhibition introducing the AI-assisted production process along with the screening.

Director Han said, “I started the story from the idea that even Ryan, who feels familiar and friendly, has his own worries and dreams.” She added, “I directed it so that audiences can discover their own stories in Ryan finding his way.”

Kim, the AI supervisor, said, “Even if it was an image made by AI, if it did not match the emotion the work aimed to convey, we worked on it again.” He added, “The creator’s judgment and touch in selecting and editing the results determined the level of completion.”

The animation is scheduled to be released on Nov. 11 on Ryan’s official Instagram and Kakao Friends’ YouTube, as well as OpenAI’s Instagram and YouTube channels.

A Kakao official said, “'Still, Ryan' is a project planned to mark Ryan’s 10th anniversary and deliver the story of a familiar character through a new production method.”