Guillermo del Toro Bluntly States He’d “Rather Die” Than Use Generative AI In Movies, Compares “Arrogance” To Victor Frankenstein

“F*** AI” was a recent war call of Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro at a recent screening/Q&A of his new film “Frankenstein” in New York City (footage captured by Vanity Fair), and he’s elaborating that feeling by stating he’d “rather die” than use the controversial technology in his work, specifically generative AI.

Chatting with NPR to promote his new iteration of the classic gothic sci-fi tale, the renowned genre filmmaker went further than cussing out generative AI by delving a bit deeper into his reasoning, which is the “arrogance” surrounding the push to use the technology and using Victor Frankenstein’s (played by Oscar Isaac) journey as a cautionary example (alluding to the real intentions of studios embracing the job-killing tech, to save money by any means, not make better projects for audiences).

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“My concern is not artificial intelligence, but natural stupidity. I think that’s what drives most of the world’s worst features. But I did want it to have the arrogance of Victor [Frankenstein] be similar in some ways to the tech bros. He’s kind of blind, creating something without considering the consequences, and I think we have to take a pause and consider where we’re going…AI, particularly generative AI, I am not interested, nor will I ever be interested. I’m 61, and I hope to be able to remain uninterested in using it at all until I croak. … The other day, somebody wrote me an email, said, ‘What is your stance on AI?’ And my answer was very short. I said, ‘I’d rather die.'”

For the bulk of his career, del Toro has sided with artists and craftsmen, who have helped bring his ideas to life on the screen. So, his pro-human art stnace isn’t too surprising (he’s been one of the biggest voices in Hollywood balking at the idea of AI relacing creatives and artists) as he’s opted over decades to use as much practical effects and sets as possible while blending the new school tech of digital effects, usually mixing old and new school in his features and animated projects (he’s dabbled in both stop-motion and 3D animation over the years).

Speaking of VFX, other directors like James Cameron, a chum of del Toro, see the positives of AI as it could keep costs and post-production times down as a tool to manage the workload of VFX artists on massive films like his “Avatar” sequels. However, that is a sector of the film/TV industry believed to likely see the biggest job loss if generative AI could have dire consequences, such as erasing jobs and shrinking teams, which has been an ongoing concern. Although Cameron believes it’ll be more of a tool to help free up people to work on more projects at the same time, not fully replace the human side of the industry or harm jobs (so, it seems well-intentioned enough, if maybe a tad naive).

One of the big narratives to come out of the recent actors’ and writers’ strikes was the push to make their jobs irrelevant through AI and similar tech. There has been a push to essentially negate the use of extras/background actors with digital copies (scanning the likeness of actors has been very controversial), and the desire to create film ideas/movie scripts out of thin air to reduce development costs has come off as super cringe and anti-art.

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Thankfully, we have plenty of folks like SAG-AFTRA who see the forest for the trees by rejecting the AI construct actor Tilly Norwood being promoted by trades (sponsored content posing as news items?) as a normal evolution of technology.

At the very least, we’re going to have a growing culture among creatives (as other directors have seemed open to the idea of generative AI), like Guillmero del Toro, of refusing to use this technology if it is going to ultimately hurt workers on a case-by-case basis.

“Fuck AI”

— Guillermo del Toro

🎥 @VanityFair pic.twitter.com/6goCsK3OET

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) October 18, 2025