Hollywood director Guillermo del Toro has warned that artificial intelligence-generated art is an attempt to reduce society’s sense of humanity, stating that when people declare art unimportant, it is “always the prelude to fascism.”
Speaking at a recent industry honors ceremony, del Toro emphasized this warning during his acceptance speech. “In a time where people tell you art is not important,” he said, “that is always the prelude to fascism.” He added, “When they tell you it doesn’t matter, when they tell you a fking app can do art, you say, ‘Well, if it’s that easy and if it’s that unimportant, why the fk do they want it so bad?’”
The filmmaker described his film “Frankenstein” as “willfully made by humans for humans” and explicitly stated, “Fk AI.” Del Toro also noted that horror and fantasy genres often provide essential frameworks for understanding complex societal issues, saying, “Sometimes the world gets so complicated, you can only explain it with the power of monsters.”
Despite his anti-AI stance, del Toro has praised Japanese video game creator Hideo Kojima for his ability to bridge cinema and gaming, including his role as Deadman in Kojima’s “Death Stranding” series.
