Guillermo del Toro on AI: ‘It can do semi-compelling screensavers’

As the use of AI continues to prove a divisive and controversial topic in the world of art, some creatives and directors are speaking out on the ills of artificial intelligence in their fields.  

One such director is Guillermo del Toro, who spoke about AI in a talk at the BFI in London.

“AI has demonstrated that it can do semi-compelling screensavers,” he said. “That’s essentially that.” 

The renowned Mexican director behind Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water added that he is not convinced AI can recreate genuine human expression or generate a similar effect to that of a human-made piece of art. 

“The value of art is not in how much it costs and how little effort it requires,” he stated. “It’s how much would you risk to be in its presence.” 

“How much would people pay for those screensavers? Are they going to make them cry because they lost a son? A mother? Because they misspent their youth? Fuck no!”

Hardly surprising coming from del Toro, but succinctly put.  

When Euronews Culture met the director last year, he shared that “emoji-style” animation where everyone is “happy and sassy and quick” only goes so far. As opposed to commercial animation, he prefers to see “real life in animation” and believes that there’s not a moment to lose. 

“I think it’s urgent to see real life in animation. Emotions are codified into a sort of teenage rom-com, almost emoji-style behaviour. (If) I see a character raising his fucking eyebrow, or crossing his arms, having a sassy pose — oh, I hate that shit. Why does everything act as if they’re in a sitcom? I think is emotional pornography. All the families are happy and sassy and quick, everyone has a one-liner. Well, my dad was boring. I was boring. Everybody in my family was boring. We had no one-liners. We’re all fucked up. That’s what I want to see animated. I would love to see real life in animation. I actually think it’s urgent.” 

However, during last year’s Annecy Animation Film Festival, del Toro issued a warning against corporate stupidity, not artificial intelligence. 

“When people say they’re scared of AI, I say don’t be afraid of any intelligence; be afraid of stupidity,” shared del Toro. “Every intelligence is artificial. Stupidity is natural. Completely, 100 percent natural, organic. Be afraid of stability. That’s the real enemy.” 

That being said, he stressed how he tries to avoid digital sets and effects as much as possible: “I think that we need things that we know are made by humans to recover the human spirit. I love things that look handmade. I fucking hate perfection.” 

Del Toro is currently filming Frankenstein, which is being produced by Netflix. It will be his first feature film since 2022’s Pinocchio, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature – the director’s third Academy Award after winning Best Picture and Best Director in 2017 for The Shape of Water.