Can AI replicate dance?

Can artificial intelligence replicate one of the most complex human art forms — dancing — and is it a threat to dancers and their profession?

CalMatters reporters set out to answer those questions by first testing four commercially-available AI video-generation models: OpenAI’s Sora, Google’s Veo, MiniMax’s Hailou and Kuaishou’s Kling. The models were prompted to depict humans performing nine different dances, including bird dancing as practiced by the Cahuilla Band of Indians, folklórico and the Mashed Potato from the 1960s.

All 36 videos failed to generate a video of a person performing the specific dance requested. 

Though these results, which reporters ran late last year, were underwhelming, they showed a marked improvement and generated fewer visual inconsistencies from results that were initially tested in 2024.

AI’s ability to quickly improve its photorealistic content and its implications with the dance industry underscore how the technology affects other creative fields and artists. In 2023, Hollywood writers and actors went on strike in part to address the usage of AI replicating their work. Video game motion actors and voice actors last year also walked off the job to seek protections from AI. 

While dancers don’t have to worry too much for now about AI replacing them, some dancers CalMatters spoke with expressed concern about how their performance videos posted online are helping AI models train themselves, without dancers’ permission.

• Emma Andre, a dance teacher and choreographer in Berkeley: “My body and my dancing is mine, and the idea that that can just be siphoned through this process and then become part of AI without my consent is something that I don’t love the idea of.”

Read the full story here, and for more information about the methodology behind the AI-generated dance videos, check out our explainer.

As the Trump administration continues to threaten California over allegations of fraud in social welfare programs, Gov. Gavin Newsom is touting that the state has reduced theft of food and cash benefits, writes CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang.

The governor said last week that thefts totaled more than $4 million a month last fall for the CalFresh food assistance and CalWorks cash welfare benefits program. That’s down $16 million from two years ago, when $20 million a month were reported stolen from public benefits recipients in California.

The thefts Newsom cited involved fraudsters using hidden devices to steal EBT card numbers. The cards are then duplicated and then drained of cash or used to make large purchases before card owners are made aware. When money is stolen from these cards, the state uses taxpayer dollars to reimburse the victims.

Critics of Newsom’s statement said the number of threats reported by the state is likely an undercount. 

Read more here.

From CalMatters homelessness reporter Marisa Kendall:

California counties are starting their homeless point-in-time counts this week, which means volunteers will set out before dawn in an attempt to answer a crucial question: Is the state’s homelessness crisis improving, or getting worse?

The count is an effort to tally every person sleeping outside or in a shelter bed on a single night. Though it’s imperfect — volunteers are likely to miss people, different counties use different methodology and some numbers are estimates — the results affect counties’ homelessness funding, policies and politics. 

Alameda, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties are among those conducting their counts this week, and Fresno County is counting next week. Not all California counties are doing it this year. The feds require each county to count every other year, so some won’t count again until 2027. 

Typically, the federal government gathers that data and releases statewide and national totals in December. We’re still waiting on that report for 2025, but Gov. Newsom recently said California saw a 9% decrease last year in the number of people sleeping on sidewalks and in other places not meant for habitation.

On Tuesday U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, both California Democrats, conducted an oversight visit of the state’s newest and largest immigrant detention center located in California City. More than 1,400 people are being held at the facility, which is run by a private, for-profit company. Read more from CalMatters’ Wendy Fry.