By Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has previously talked about generative AI, indicating he’s decidedly not a fan of the technology and did a famous “F— AI” chant at a screening.
Late last year, he was asked about it and told NPR that: “AI, particularly generative AI, I am not interested” and going so far as to say “I’m 61, and I hope to be able to remain uninterested in using it at all until I croak.”
The technology remains a hot topic as it has become more and more ubiquitous, and both video and photo creations using generative AI, once easily identifiable, are becoming harder to spot as ‘AI slop’ has permeated YouTube, Instagram, X and so many platforms.
Now, during an acceptance speech at an awards ceremony at the Palm Springs International Film Festival over the weekend, the “Frankenstein” helmer has gone further and said the push for AI to replace working artists is out of the fascism playbook:
“Be kind, be involved, and believe in your art, in a time when they tell you art is not important. That is always the prelude to fascism.
Always, when they tell you that art doesn’t matter,’ when they tell you a f—ing app can do art, you know, you say, ‘Well, if it’s that easy and thought unimportant, why the f— do they want it so bad?’
The answer is because they think they can debase everything that makes us a little better, a little more human. And that, in my book and in my life, includes monsters.”
Del Toro is currently readying his next film, “Fury,” which will again star Oscar Isaac, while a stop-motion animated fantasy feature based on the Kazuo Ishiguro novel “The Buried Giant” is in the works at Netflix.
Guillermo del Toro says, “When they tell you that art doesn’t matter… or that a f—ing app can do art that leads to fascism.”
Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch & Creative Impact Awards. #PSIFF pic.twitter.com/1LAYTwLYYv
— Variety (@Variety) January 4, 2026
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