{"id":106759,"date":"2025-08-24T14:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/106759\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T14:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T14:43:07","slug":"artificial-intelligence-has-arrived-in-humboldt-commercials-and-people-have-opinions-lost-coast-outpost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/106759\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial Intelligence Has Arrived in Humboldt Commercials, and People Have Opinions | Lost Coast Outpost"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Local production company owner Tex Kelly used a generative AI program to place computer-generated cryptids in the real interior of a Eureka Mexican restaurant for a video advertisement. | Video still.<\/p>\n

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Local production company owner Tex Kelly is well aware that some people disapprove of the generative AI technology he\u2019s been using to make commercials for local businesses. He specifically recalls some negative comments he saw on Reddit, like this one, posted last month in response to a video ad he produced for Eureka Mexican restaurant Esmeralda\u2019s 2.0:<\/p>\n

\u201cI loathe all of the AI bullshit that local businesses are using for ads. If you can\u2019t do it in house, pay an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comment<\/a> had 54 up-votes, making it the top response to\u00a0a post seeking opinions on the ad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always a bit of worry about harsh feedback \u2026 ,\u201d Kelly acknowledged in a recent interview. \u201cWe\u2019ll see an \u2018AI slop\u2019<\/a> comment every once in a while. But the majority of feedback has been really, really good.\u201d [Disclosure: Kelly used to work for the Outpost\u2019s parent company, Lost Coast Communications.]<\/p>\n

When it comes to his own justification for embracing the technology, it\u2019s pretty simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More to the point, some of his clients like it. A couple of local business owners have specifically requested the use AI in their commercials because of the attention-grabbing imagery it can create, Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s that Esmeralda\u2019s ad, which has been fairly ubiquitous on YouTube, social media and TV:<\/p>\n

Kelly explained that recent advancements in generative AI \u2014 specifically Google\u2019s VO3 program \u2014 allowed him to put computer-generated creatures into real-life local environments he\u2019d photographed. Hence, he was able to \u201cfilm\u201d Bigfoot breaking out of Redwood Capital Bank (whose name he changed to avoid legal repercussions) and a Yeti flying a helicopter over real aerial views of Eureka.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s aware that the results aren\u2019t perfect. (\u201cIt was supposed to be Bigfoot, which \u2026 Reddit users have said it obviously looks like a gorilla,\u201d he said.) But the ad has made an impression and gotten a lot of people talking, which is one important measure of success in advertising.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always trying to do something that\u2019s different to get people\u2019s attention,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not sufficient justification for using AI, according to other locals who work in video production. AI imagery is inherently dishonest, they argue, and its use is actively depriving creative professionals of work.<\/p>\n

Justin Grimaldo, a local editor and filmmaker, recently took to Facebook to make his opinion known.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese aren\u2019t just goofy experiments,\u201d he wrote<\/a> regarding local ads that employ AI. \u201cBusinesses are actually using this stuff in place of real video work\u2014and it\u2019s already pushing out talented local filmmakers and photographers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grimaldo also feels that AI ads are often deceptive. He cited AI-generated real estate video tours and AI-enhanced images of restaurant interiors as examples of misleading consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, you saved a few bucks today,\u201d his post continued. \u201cBut long-term? You\u2019re training your customers not to trust you. You\u2019re also telling local creatives their work doesn\u2019t matter\u2014and that\u2019s not just lazy, it\u2019s a terrible investment in your brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reached by the Outpost, Grimaldo said he\u2019s not against progress or new technology so much as he\u2019s pro-transparency and human creativity. He thinks AI ads should be labeled as such, and he sees generative AI programs as a poor substitute for hard work and imagination.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to use AI as a tool to enhance a human-driven vision, but it\u2019s another to slap a few prompts into a generator and call it a day,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not creative. That\u2019s outsourcing imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grimaldo is also not impressed with a lot of what AI generates. The technology is notoriously bad<\/a> at rendering human hands, for example, and Grimaldo says it also has trouble making mouths and eyes move in realistic, organic-looking ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI still struggles with the subtleties of human expression, which makes a huge difference in storytelling \u2026 ,\u201d he said. \u201c[I]t\u2019s missing soul. [AI imagery] mimics emotion but doesn\u2019t generate it. \u2026\u00a0That said \u2026 give it a couple years. The tech is moving fast, and there\u2019s no stopping that train. It will get harder to tell what\u2019s real and what\u2019s not. But for now, there\u2019s still a noticeable gap and as someone who lives in the edit bay, that gap stands out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly actually agrees with that, to an extent. He said nothing can replace the collaborative experience of working on non-AI productions, which he still does, and he supports the efforts of Hollywood labor unions to keep AI out of the feature film industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cA robot or something that\u2019s been made by AI is not going to make you feel any depth of loss or anything like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also doesn\u2019t approve of big corporations using AI for their ads. He recalled the public blowback<\/a> that came in response to an AI-generated Coca-Cola commercial<\/a>\u00a0last year and said the criticism was deserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, when you have a budget that is that on that level, you know, you should flex your your muscles with an actual production,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Kelly just thinks local businesses should be granted a bit more leeway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re managing a whole bunch of clients and [one of them] only has a three- or four-hundred-dollar budget to do an ad, I can create something with that, easily,\u201d he said, referring specifically to the AI tools he subscribes to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Does he worry about taking away people\u2019s jobs?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, because the person making those AI ads and editing them is me,\u201d he said, adding that he still hires people to work on other ads.<\/p>\n

Nor does he buy the idea that AI stifles human imagination. Quite the opposite, in fact.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat set me on to [AI] was that as I\u2019m always thinking of crazy ideas: \u2018If I had a million dollars, these are what I would be doing. I\u2019d be breaking out of banks\u2019 and stuff like that,\u201d he said. AI has simply allowed him to make such ideas come to life.<\/p>\n

Kelly recently collaborated with the owner of Hunan Chinese Restaurant in Eureka for a longer video that is almost entirely AI-generated. It\u2019s called Wok Master:<\/p>\n

In describing the origin of his idea for this video, Kelly touched on one of Grimaldo\u2019s gripes.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Real] kitchens don\u2019t look great,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s food everywhere on the pans and stuff, and you\u2019re constantly cleaning that off, and people are moving around. \u2026 So, [in order] to not show the un-glorious side of things, we were like, \u2018Let\u2019s show a baby using a wok and growing up and coming to the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

That latter part of the storyline came from the owner, who moved to Humboldt County roughly 40 years ago, Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Still, Kelly doesn\u2019t see the glossy, computerized kitchen footage as inherently dishonest \u2014 at least, no more so than advertising has been for decades. The burgers you see in Carl\u2019s Jr. and McDonald\u2019s ads aren\u2019t even real food, he said, and they\u2019re hardly an accurate representation of the actual products.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people have been raised up on the over-embellishment or the overselling\u201d in advertising, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that they just don\u2019t care about. If you\u2019re entertaining and you\u2019re making someone laugh, I think that\u2019s what they\u2019re going to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Kelly may draw an ethical line between low-budget local ads and big-dollar corporate professionals, the larger advertising industry appears to have no such compunctions. A recent industry report<\/a> found that, among marketers who spent more than $1 million on digital video ads last year, nearly 90 percent are using or plan to use generative AI in their video ads.<\/p>\n

Some of those companies are grappling with the same issues as local professionals. A recent <\/a>New York Times<\/a> article<\/a> on the topic noted, \u201cThere are ethical concerns about displacing writers, designers and artists. There are also concerns that the ads could fool viewers into thinking something is real when it is actually fake.\u201d <\/p>\n

Some companies, including the digital marketing agency Shuttlerock<\/a>, do employ captions or logos that disclose when AI is used in an ad.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he should be labeling his AI ads, too, Kelly said, \u201cI think it\u2019s obvious right now. But in the future?\u201d He paused to think about it, then said, \u201cThat\u2019s a tough one. \u2026 But I don\u2019t think it has to be labeled, at least not right now. If it was, like, a president or someone saying a bomb threat or something like that, I feel like it would have to. \u2026 But right now it\u2019s so obvious when you come across something that is AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

He reiterated that the most important thing is grabbing people\u2019s attention and getting customers to walk through the doors for his clients.<\/p>\n

We asked Grimaldo if he\u2019d reject a client who specifically requested AI imagery in their commercial. He said he\u2019s already done just that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201dIt might just be the artist in me, but when something starts replacing actual crew positions\u2014DOPs [directors of photography], animators, VFX artists\u2014it crosses a line I\u2019m not comfortable with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But then Grimaldo made an admission:<\/p>\n

\u201cI do use AI on the audio side for things like dialogue cleanup, denoising and other tedious tasks,\u201d he said. \u201cTo me, that\u2019s a tool, not a replacement. There\u2019s a difference between using tech to enhance the work and using it to skip hiring real people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of where each person draws their ethical line with AI, one thing is clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt won\u2019t go away,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThere will be people who hate it and there\u2019s gonna be people who love it. But I think you have to be able to craft something with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued that, while anybody can now type in some text or upload a photo and ask AI to generate imagery, the art of filmmaking \u2014 even on the local commercial level \u2014 still requires certain human skills like editing and storytelling to be successful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if you do something with it and actually create something that\u2019s funny then, you know, that\u2019s good,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cAnd if it helps the business, that\u2019s obviously what matters the most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Local production company owner Tex Kelly used a generative AI program to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-106759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}