Creator backs out of new AI-generated Punky Duck series
Jorge R. Gutierrez might ring a bell for many for his works on El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, or his feature directorial debut, The Book of Life. But, for some he’ll forever be known a brief period where he wanted to dabble into the world of AI with the creation of Punky Duck, a project he was in charge of greenlit by Amazon to head to Prime Video. That said, he’s now backed out.
On social media, he revealed “actions speak louder than words” and he’s no longer making Punky Duck. He went onto express his intention was to “showcase artists, both new and seasoned” and driving the new technology. The backlash he’s received from both his peers as well as the wider public spurred this decision to back out.
Gutierrez caps his message off promising to do better and “try harder.”
To be clear, Punky Duck isn’t the only project in the pipeline for Amazon’s AI funding pool — dubbed the GenAI Creators’ Fund — with two others in the works. The fund was announced during AI on the Lot, but while others are in the pipeline, this is probably a huge hit for Amazon MGM, who were seemingly really banking on this show in particular, probably due to the pedigree of its creator.
