Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro has issued a stark criticism of AI-generated art, stating he hopes to be dead before the technology becomes mainstream.
The Frankenstein director, speaking in an interview coinciding with Halloween, identified modern “Victor Frankensteins” as “tyrannical politicians and Silicon Valley tech bros,” reports WIRED. His new adaptation of Frankenstein is scheduled to launch on Netflix on November 7.
When asked about parallels between AI creators and Victor Frankenstein, del Toro dismissed the technology’s use in art. “In art, I don’t think anyone asked for it. Nobody raised their hand and said, ‘Could you invent this?'”
A threshold to cross
He argued the real test for AI art is not its creation but its consumption. “I will gladly pay $4.99 for a song by the Beatles or Dylan, you name it, but who is going to pay $4.99 for something created with AI? When that threshold is crossed, then we’ll see.”
The director, who also won Academy Awards for The Shape of Water, expressed his personal disinterest in the technology’s future. “I don’t know. I mean, I’m extremely glad I’m 61. So I don’t have to worry about this. With a little bit of luck, I’ll die before that takes root.”
Del Toro also confirmed his next project is a stop-motion adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant, which he intends to move “away from the children’s table” and make for an R-rated or PG-13 audience.
