Fable Studio

Fable Studio is a startup media company founded in January 2018 by Edward Saatchi and Pete Billington. It specializes in virtual reality media, and is using generative AI to develop a simulated reality titled the Simulation, and a streaming platform called Showrunner that can generate custom episodes.

In January 2018, Fable Studio launched, with Wolves in the Walls as its premiere VR title. The property was based on the Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean children's book of the same name. In August 2019, Wolves in the Walls won a Primetime Emmy for outstanding innovation in interactive media.

In May 2023, Fable Studio announced an AI project titled "The Simulation", which plans to create a simulated reality of AI-powered characters with the eventual goal of creating an artificial general intelligence. The Simulation's official website is entirely fabricated.

In July 2023 as part of The Simulation project, Fable Studio released a paper describing their tool named SHOW-1, also known as AI Showrunner, which uses a complex network of AI agents to create full animated TV episodes; they showcased the technology by creating several unauthorized episodes of South Park, inspired by an episode of that show about characters using ChatGPT. Saatchi described the potential to create a "generative TV" service where fans can create and share their own episodes, or to allow writers or directors to realize their own original projects. SHOW-1 was heavily criticized by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, who were on strike at the time over the risk of their careers getting automated. Film, TV, and comic-book writer Christos Gage described the SHOW-1–generated episodes as "soulless and unfunny". Devin Coldewey of TechCrunch, in contrast, said of one of the episodes, "Although I wouldn't say the episode is funny, it does have a beginning, a middle and an end, and distinct characters (including lots of fake celebrity cameos, including fake Meryl Streep)."

In June 2024, Fable Studio announced a streaming service, also titled Showrunner, that will allow users to create and share their own episodes using AI in a similar format as the South Park demos. Ten original series were announced for the platform, including Exit Valley, a Silicon Valley satire modeled after South Park; Ikiru Shinu, a post-apocalyptic horror anime; and Sim Francisco, an anthology series set in a shared universe of some of the other shows.