Warner Bros. has sparked major backlash after using AI-generated dogs to promote its upcoming sci-fi film, The End of Oak Street. The unusual promotional stunt has quickly drawn attention online, with viewers questioning why a major studio chose artificial intelligence for a campaign surrounding a major theatrical release.

The response to the campaign has been far from unanimous. While the bizarre concept has amused some fans, others have been left disappointed by the decision, particularly with a major studio using AI to promote a movie created by a large team of human artists.

The unusual marketing choice has consequently created a conversation that extends beyond the movie itself, with fans debating whether artificial intelligence has a place in entertainment marketing and whether Warner Bros. has made a clever promotional move or an unnecessary misstep.

The roughly 90-second video comes from DogPack, an AI-generated podcast hosted by Goldie, an AI golden retriever, and Frenchie, an AI French bulldog. The pair interview Starbuck, the dog belonging to Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor's characters in The End of Oak Street, with Starbuck himself also animated using AI effects.

During the playful interview, Frenchie asks Starbuck which of his human co-stars was the best trained. Starbuck responds by praising McGregor's skills with treats before giving Hathaway her own canine-approved compliment, after which Warner Bros. shared the clip across its social media accounts.

The campaign may have been designed to get people talking about The End of Oak Street, but it did not take long for viewers to make their own feelings about the unusual promo very clear.

Reactions to Warner Bros.' AI-generated dog promo for The End of Oak Street have ranged from outright mockery to genuine disappointment, with several viewers questioning why the studio decided to use AI for a movie made by a large team of human artists.

“Literally could have filmed a dog taking a s*** for 90 seconds and it would have been a billion times better than this.” That was the blunt assessment from Wodi on X, setting the tone for some of the harsher reactions to the campaign.

“I can't believe that we have the potential for a new dinosaur film doing really well and then Warner Bros score a massive own goal,” Tom Jurassic wrote, arguing that the use of generative AI felt out of touch and potentially disrespectful to the artists who worked on the film.

“First ad in a long time to make me not want to watch something I was excited about,” JohnTheWriter added, suggesting the campaign had managed to negatively affect his enthusiasm for the movie itself.

“Tell me you know your movie is cooked without telling me you know your movie is cooked,” Chase wrote, taking a considerably more brutal view of what the marketing choice might say about the studio's confidence in its film.

“Remember just because Warner did some AI b******* doesn’t mean you should just hate and s*** on the movie,” Lucci wrote, offering a more measured response and making an important distinction between the studio's marketing decision and the people who actually made the film.

“The dogs understood the assignment better than most press tours,” Sof c. joked, proving that not everyone saw the bizarre campaign as a disaster. For some viewers, the sheer absurdity of the concept appears to be exactly what makes it work.

Directed by David Robert Mitchell, The End of Oak Street follows a suburban family whose neighborhood is mysteriously transported through space-time, leaving them to survive a dinosaur horde. Hathaway and McGregor lead the cast alongside Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davis and P.J. Byrne, while J.J. Abrams produces under his Bad Robot banner.

The film itself is aiming for a big-hearted family adventure wrapped inside an enormous sci-fi premise. The reactions leave Warner Bros. with a curious situation: the studio certainly succeeded in making The End of Oak Street part of the online conversation, but whether that attention ultimately benefits the movie is another question entirely.

Did Warner Bros. get creative with its AI dog promo, or did the studio completely miss the mark? Let us know in the comments!