Critical Role's animations take years to produce — but the cofounders say they'll never use AI

• Critical Role is rolling out the fourth season of "The Legend of Vox Machina" on Prime Video.
• It takes years to make animations for each season, but the cofounders say AI is out of the question.
• "A computer cannot be passionate" or replace the value of art, chief creative officer Matt Mercer said.

It's a long wait in between seasons for Critical Role's animated series — but the eight cofounders of the media and gaming outfit say they'll never use AI as a shortcut.

The cofounders of Critical Role spoke to Business Insider ahead of the fourth season of "The Legend of Vox Machina" — an Amazon-backed animated show based on the team's long-running "Dungeons & Dragons" livestream.

In 2019, the group raised a record $11.3 million via a Kickstarter to jump-start the animation wing of their business, which started in 2015.

Even with tools readily available on the market, the team says AI has no place in their process.

"A computer cannot be passionate. And the whole reason that Critical Role is here isn't just because of great stories or because of a magnificent fantasy realm. Ultimately, it's because of us being friends caring about each other and being so invested in this story together," Matt Mercer, the team's chief creative officer, told Business Insider.

Travis Willingham, Critical Role's CEO, said the crew thought it was important to give people an opportunity to not only put their talents on display, but also learn from each other and hone their craft.

"We've been the incredible recipients of watching those people at the highest level do their work. To me, that's something that can never be replaced by a machine or a program," Willingham said.

The group works with writers and artists based in and outside the US. The cofounders are involved in character design and write episodes for the show, with help from the team of cowriters.

Cofounder Liam O'Brien co-wrote an episode this season with Critical Role creative director Marisha Ray, a rollicking heist titled "De Rolo's Eleven."

"We crave other people telling stories. That's what we've done from the very beginning and AI is promising us perfection in a facsimile," O'Brien said. "And I think what we love about the characters in our story is they are flawed and have so many wrinkles and problems. And I don't know that that promise of perfection even appeals."

The series' main roles are voiced by the eight Critical Role cofounders, who originated the characters in a "Dungeons & Dragons" campaign they had as a friend group.

A decade on, the game they played in Mercer and Ray's living room has turned their friend group into the co-leaders of a multi-arm gaming and media company. In the last 11 years, the team has streamed thousands of hours of their "D&D" campaign, creating a fanbase that has fueled live tours and books and given them the resources to publish their own game, "Daggerheart."

They've embarked on international tours to play tabletop games live to an arena-sized audience of thousands of fans. There's also a Critical Role video game and more episodes of their second Amazon-backed animated series, "Mighty Nein," in the works.

The last three-episode tranche of "The Legend of Vox Machina" drops on Wednesday.

The show has been renewed for a fifth season.