Struggling to learn how to do a backflip, Nikita takes on an unusual training regimen

Learning how to do a backflip can be a difficult, risky endeavour. That’s why, after many failed attempts and a stubbed toe, Nikita Diakur, a filmmaker based in Germany, opted for an unconventional method – machine learning. To achieve the feat, Diakur created a digital avatar of himself and, with code and inspiration pulled from a research paper titled ‘DeepMimic’, programmed it to train on YouTube tutorial videos until it could land a backflip successfully. The resulting short is a wildly original and amusing snapshot of both the potential and current limits of AI. And underneath its wry slapstick humour, Backflip is a thoughtful exploration of fear – not just of the unpredictable future of machine learning, but also the physical world we inhabit, where the results of jumping from your feet and landing on your head can’t be shaken off quite so easily.