Korea’s Kaja, Zig Zag partner on AI doc with robot Ai-Da as exec producer

Ai-Da is a robot artist created by a team at the University of Oxford

South Korea-based Kaja Productions has teamed up with UK prodco Zig Zag Productions and artificial intelligence (AI) expert Aidan Meller on a four-part documentary series about what they describe as “the first ever AI robot artist.”

Trust Me, I’m a Robot (4×60’), Kaja’s first project, centres on Ai-Da, a robot artist created by Meller and a team at the University of Oxford and focuses on the intersection of art, technology and innovation.

Ai-Da is listed as an exec producer and co-director on the series, as well as composing the music. The producers said their show is “the first documentary ever co-created by a humanoid machine.”

Spencer Thomas

Spencer Thomas, Kaja’s founder and former senior factual producer at Korea’s CJ ENM, said the series will explore the people and technologies shaping the future of AI, including its applications in biotech and space, as well as questions around ethics and regulation.

“Ai-Da has become an internationally recognised cultural and technological phenomenon, delivering keynote addresses at the United Nations, the House of Lords and the Royal Institution,” said Thomas. “She’s not human, but she’s helping us see what humanity could become.

“From the TV side, this will be the first time an AI robot can produce and direct itself. That would be a historic first. This docuseries pulls back the curtain on the pioneers and the visionaries shaping our rapidly approaching future.”

The droid has also been featured in major exhibitions at leading institutions including the Ashmolean Museum, Lady Margaret Hall, the Oxford Union and the Bodleian Library, which Thomas said reflects the project’s blend of artistic vision, academic research and technological innovation.

Furthermore, a painting by Ai-Da of the Second World War codebreaker Alan Turing – known as the father of artificial intelligence – sold for more than US$1m at auction in New York in 2024.

Danny Fenton

Zig Zag is due to pitch Trust Me, I’m a Robot at Mipcom next month, and will be looking for partners, with options including a streamer commission or selling the programme territory by territory. Development has so far been funded by Kaja and Thomas said no external investor had yet come on board.

The producers are considering pairing Ai-Da with a human host rather than having the robot present the series alone and said the launch of the show chimes in with current angst about the future of AI and the risks it could pose to humankind.

“This is a project in the zeitgeist as we worry that AI may be a threat to our existence. For the first time an AI robot is going to advocate in a documentary series why AI can be a force for good,” said Zig Zag CEO Danny Fenton.

Meller added: “We are hacking human biology and its algorithms to a point where we will be able to programme the body like a machine. Humans are merging with machines, and George Orwell would be stunned that surveillance is now inside the head, not just outside.”