Christopher Nolan says people ‘disdain’ artificial intelligence and the idea that it will replace humans is ‘nonsense’ | Christopher Nolan

Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan believes the kind of films he makes — big-budget action films mostly shot on location — will survive the spread of artificial intelligence, a technology he says many people “disdain.”

The Oppenheimer and The Dark Knight director is promoting his latest film, an adaptation of the Greek epic The Odyssey, which hits theaters this week.

“The interesting thing about artificial intelligence is that I have never seen a technology that was so successfully embraced by Wall Street, investors and technology companies that was so rejected by the public,” he told AFP in Paris.

“It’s just kind of weird. Young people, in particular, are the ones who coined this term ‘dirty AI,'” he added. “There’s a kind of disdain for AI stuff.”

AI has been integrated into business applications and online search services, and chatbots such as ChatGPT have been widely adopted, but the technology faces significant opposition in creative industries such as music, film and art.

The term “AI slop” refers to the deluge of artificial intelligence-generated text, video, and audio content that has flooded social media in recent years.

Nolan, who once again used stunning special effects in The Odyssey, added that he expects the AI ​​to produce some useful “filming tools.”

The British-American director said: “But I think the idea of ​​replacing humans wholesale and human creativity is, to me, nonsense.”

Upon the release of his previous film, Oppenheimer, Nolan told The Guardian in 2023 that there were “very strong parallels” between the famous physicist’s calls for nuclear restraint and AI experts who were calling for the technology to be reined in, such as Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, the British “godfather of AI,” who left Google to speak more frankly about the “existential threat” posed by advanced AI.

“I think [AI] It will be a powerful tool in the future. What I have tried to bring into the discussion, and continue to express, is the concept of responsibility and the responsibility of the employer. “The only thing we cannot do is allow management, employers and producers to use artificial intelligence to evade responsibility for their actions,” Nolan said at the time.

“[AI] It leaves me with a lot of troubling questions. “And those things often become fuel for what I do next,” he added.

The AI ​​industry has touted the potential for this technology to replace actors, writers and camera operators, claims that have spread consternation in filmmaking circles, though there is also plenty of skepticism.

It was one of the reasons behind the massive Hollywood strike in 2023 that shut down production and cost studios billions of dollars.

The Odyssey is an ancient Greek poem that is considered a cornerstone of Western literature. It recounts the hero Odysseus’s 10-year quest to return home after the Trojan War, and includes some of the most famous scenes from ancient Greek mythology, including a giant one-eyed monster and a siren.

Nolan’s The Odyssey had a budget of $250 million, enabling the director to travel to locations throughout the Mediterranean with a stellar cast that includes Matt Damon in the lead role as Odysseus, supported by Zendaya, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Anne Hathaway.

Nolan was attacked by Elon Musk and other right-wing figures because of his choice of black actress Lupita Nyong’o to play Helen of Troy, a legendary figure considered the most beautiful woman in the world. Nyong’o herself declined to comment, saying: “Our staff represents the world. I don’t spend my time thinking about defence. The criticism will be there whether I’m in it or not.”

In a separate interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph at the weekend, Nolan said the backlash “comes with the territory,” saying: “These conversations that happen before people see the film — they’re always irrelevant, because no one knows what the film actually is yet.”

“Remember, I spent 10 years of my life dealing with Batman,” he said. “When I came [Batman] Initially, writers and artists had been working on this beloved character for nearly 65 years, and there were a lot of fraught ideas about what he represented. And what I’ve learned in my time with this trilogy is that you can’t worry about any of that at all. What you need to do is respect the original text by interpreting it in the strongest way personally possible.

Agence France-Presse contributed to the preparation of this report.