Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Gareth Edwards is “excited” to see the impact that AI has on the movie industry.
The Jurassic World Rebirth filmmaker has a positive outlook on the technology – which was showcased in his 2023 movie The Creator – and has likened its rise to the introduction of CGI in films back in the 1990s.
Speaking during Amazon’s AI on the Lot event in Culver City on Thursday (28.05.26), Edwards said: “I can’t see a reason why you wouldn’t become interested in this stuff as a filmmaker. It’s so clearly a tool that might be up there with the camera. It’s going to be better than CGI.
“I’m excited, I hope you are.”
Edwards has also expressed a desire to create a hybrid generative AI film but has held off doing so because of the rapid rate at which the technology is developing.
The 50-year-old director said: “It feels like this stuff’s changing every three months.
“It’s like we have to revisit the plan six months from now because it might be a totally different series of tools. And the things that… weren’t possible three months ago or six months ago, some of them are now possible.”
Edwards argues that generative AI’s main purpose is to help organise ideas, rather than generating stories that resonate with human audiences.
The Rogue One: A Star Wars Story helmer said: “It has no taste whatsoever. It is a f****** genius at helping you.
“I view it like having a second-unit director who is a billionaire on acid. Like, I’ll do anything you ask, not a problem. Sometimes it’ll (go) bats*** crazy. And you’ll give it notes, and it’ll be like, ‘I don’t do notes. I’ll just do something totally different.’ But it’s worth it.”
Edwards’ comments contrast with those made by Steven Spielberg, as the Jaws filmmaker is far more doubtful about AI’s capabilities in the creative industries.
The legendary director – whose other credits include Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan – told the IMO podcast: “Where I don’t love AI is where it takes a position, or there’s an empty chair at a writer’s table, and there’s six writers and an empty chair and there’s a computer in front of the empty chair and it is the seventh writer.
“I’m not willing to substitute, you know, because I don’t really believe in its sentience. I don’t believe there is any substitute for the soul. I don’t think that is an algorithm that’s inventible, if there is such a word.
“I think a computer that thinks it feels more than we feel is anathema to the way I was raised and how I’ll practice my own trade of producing and directing in the future.”
Spielberg feels that AI is capable of performing some “legwork” during film productions but stressed that the tech shouldn’t have “the final word on anything creative”.
The 79-year-old director said: “I don’t want AI involved in that way.
“If AI wants to help me find locations, that’s great. Saves us all a lot of legwork. But don’t tell me that I don’t have the right antagonist in this movie.
“Don’t tell me how to write my dialogue for this character. Don’t tell me where the camera has to go. And also don’t tell me what the set should look like, unless AI is simply a tool in a large tool chest of the production designer and just one of many tools the production designer uses…”
