‘I’d Rather Die’ than Use AI-Generated Video
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro says he will never be interested in using AI-generated video as a tool in his films, even joking that he hopes to die before he develops any curiosity about the technology.
In an interview with NPR, the Oscar-winning director of Pan’s Labyrinth And The shape of water (plus popular rates hell boy And Pacific Rim) compares the “arrogance” of “tech brothers” like Sam Altman and Elon Musk (OpenAI and xAI respectively) to Victor Frankenstein, the creator of a reanimated human in his latest film Frankenstein.
Interviewer Terry Gross broaches the subject, looking for a parallel in the story’s para-human creation, played by actor Jacob Elordi, and del Toro shares his doubts that untold levels of programmed information can capture “the alchemy of emotion.”
GROSS: You could say in a way that, for example, the creature in “Frankenstein” is like artificial intelligence, because it was created by man but then it lives on its own and can destroy man, you know, without even really understanding what he’s doing. So, what do you think about AI? And did that influence the film in any way?
DEL TORO: It did and it didn’t. This is not the case in the sense that my concern is not artificial intelligence, but natural stupidity. I think this is what motivates many of the worst teachers in the world. But I wanted Victor’s arrogance to be in some ways similar to that of the tech brothers, you know? He’s a bit blind, he creates something without considering the consequences, you know? And I think we need to pause and think about where we’re going. If you have to teach an AI to think in ones and zeros, you know, oh, my God, I wish a generation could raise their children well once, once.
In all of human history, no generation has been raised anywhere in the world. And I think that’s our biggest failure in a way, you know? Ones and zeros don’t get the chemistry you get with emotion and experience. You get the information, but you don’t get the alchemy of emotion, spirituality and feeling. I’m not saying it’s impossible to reproduce. But we have made it easily accessible to the next generation of children. And that’s why the painful thing that Jacob Elordi and Victor portray is a father-son relationship that is very relevant in the film, very relevant and very moving at the end.
Gross then asks if Del Toro used AI for the new film, as its producer Netflix announced that the company was “all in” on using AI to reduce the cost of production. THE Imitate The director responds with a brutal rejection: “I prefer to die. »
GROSS: Did you take advantage of AI to create Frankenstein?
FROM TORO: I am not interested in AI, especially generative AI, and never will be. I’m 61 and I’m hoping to not use it at all until I croak.
GROSS: (Laughter).
DEL TORO: I really don’t. The other day someone wrote me an email asking what is your position on AI? And my response was very short. I said, I would rather die. [emphasis added]
Later, Gross asks about Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE) deporting illegal immigrants in Los Angeles, worrying that the elite Hollywood actor himself might be a target because of his accent. Del Toro responds gravely: “I still have my papers with me. »
GROSS: So I have to ask: You live in Los Angeles. There was a pretty big ICE crackdown there. And you’re Mexican. You have an accent.
DEL TORO: Yeah. Oh yeah.
GROSS: Did anyone from ICE stop you and ask for your papers?
DEL TORO: Not yet, but if we ever meet in person, I’ll show you. I have a wallet the size of a leather wallet and I always have my papers with me. In the past I have been stopped and asked to show my papers and asked pointed questions, I have been pushed aside during immigration in the past. So I have all my papers with me at all times. And it’s a very difficult time where there is no voice for the other. And I think that understanding that the other is you is crucial.
Del Toro has rarely presented left-wing views on hot-button political topics in the recent past. After President Donald Trump’s first election victory, he called the MAGA movement a racist “cancer” on America. After the fatal shooting of actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the film Rustdel Toro promised he would no longer use real guns in his productions. In 2023, he signed an open letter denouncing so-called “book bans” which aimed to remove pornographic materials from libraries and school curricula. This spring, del Toro joined dozens of Hollywood celebrities in claiming that Israel was committing “genocide” and “targeting civilians” in its crusade to defeat Hamas and rescue hostages taken in the October 7 terrorist attacks.
