Guillermo del Toro on Why AI Art Is 'An Insult to Life Itself'

Everybody seems to be jumping onto the AI art bandwagon as apps become better and better at transforming selfies into aesthetic profile pictures in an instant. It seems harmless at first until a closer look reveals the arguably unethical side of AI art. Artists have been coming forward to call out AI art for using their work as “inspiration” without proper notification or credits.

AI art has become a hot topic of debate in the art communities, and one creative who’s sharing his thoughts on the matter is Guillermo del Toro, one of the greatest filmmakers of our generation. Del Toro has created magical films throughout his career, such as Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, and most recently, Netflix’s stop-motion film Pinocchio. 

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The film, which has been called the best Pinocchio film ever, was created almost lovingly through the slow stop-motion process. Decider called it a “labor of art,” which led to Del Toro sharing his personal thoughts on the matter. Because to the filmmaker, art requires a soul.

“I think that art is an expression of the soul. At its best, it is encompassing everything you are. Therefore, I consume, and love, art made by humans. I am completely moved by that,” shared Del Toro to Decider. “I am not interested in an illustration made by machines and the extrapolation of information.”

As it stands, AI art creates its “art” by essentially sampling images in the same way musicians sample music. Human art inspires AI art, which then identifies and remixes elements to design something of its own. As such, it’s been debated whether AI can actually create or draw in the way we humans understand.

“I talked to Dave McKean (who’s worked on Sandman and Hellblazer) who is a great artist. And he told me, his greatest hope is that AI cannot draw. It can interpolate information, but it cannot draw. It can never capture a feeling, or a countenance, or the softness of a human face, you know?” said Guillermo Del Toro.

AI has infiltrated almost every creative field, from art to writing to music. AI is even in the early stages of creating videos, and it wouldn’t be surprising if AI creates a full feature film in the near future. But that’s a future filmmakers won’t be excited to see.

“Certainly, if that (AI) conversation was being had about film, it would hurt deeply,” shared Del Toro.

The filmmaker summed up his thoughts on AI art by quoting another great filmmaker of our time.

“I would think it (AI art), as [Hayao] Miyazaki says, ‘an insult to life itself.’”