Lexus and IBM debut the world’s first TV advert entirely scripted by artificial intelligence

Luxury carmaker Lexus has teamed up with IBM's Watson and several London agencies to make the world's first car advertisement entirely scripted by artificial intelligence.

Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, who is known for films such as The Last King of Scotland and this year's Whitney Houston biopic, the advert was created to showcase Lexus' new ES executive sedan.

Created in partnership with London agencies The & Partnership, Unruly and Visual Voice, IBM's Watson used AI to analyse 15 years of footage, text and audio for award-winning car and luxury brand campaigns to build the advert. 

IBM said Watson was able to identify elements which are common to award-worthy content, as well as themes that are emotionally intelligent and entertaining.

The 60-second advert, entitled Driven By Intuition, tells the story of a Lexus Takumi master craftsman who releases the new ES car into the world, only for it be taken away and threatened with destruction. The car's automatic emergency braking system saves the day, demonstrating use of the technology on screen.

"When I was handed the script, the melodrama of the story convinced me of its potential," said Macdonald. 

"The fact the AI gave a fellow machine sentience, placed it in a sort of combat situation, and then had it escaping into the sunset was such an emotional response from what is essentially a digital platform."

The & Partnership creative partner Dave Bedwood added: "I thought I’d be writing an ad with the assistance of AI. Instead it took over and wrote the whole script: a machine telling the story of a machine coming to life."