Travis Knight refuses to embrace AI in film 'at all': 'The concern is when it supplants the artist'

Travis Knight is "not embracing" artificial intelligence (AI) in filmmaking "at all".

The Wildwood director has confessed AI is "an amazing piece of technology", but he doesn't want it to "take the place" of artists.

Speaking to Variety, he said: "I’m not embracing it at all.

"I see technology as a tool, and we use technology at Laika.

"A pencil is technology, a paintbrush is technology, a 3D printer is technology, a computer is technology.

"Technology is useful when you put it in the hands of people, when you put it in the hands of artists who can amplify their voice.

"Technology is not useful when it takes the place of the artist, and that’s the concern with generative AI.

"It’s an amazing piece of technology, but the concern is that when it supplants the artist, then we have an issue because the computer cannot speak about humanity at all. It doesn’t know what it feels like."

Knight knows all about feeling passionate about projects, including his recent big screen adaptation of Masters of the Universe, which is based on the Mattel franchise.

The 53-year-old filmmaker - who is CEO of the stop-motion animation studio Laika - admitted working behind the camera was "easy" because of his strong feelings for the franchise.

Asked why other filmmakers have had difficulty with the Masters of the Universe world, the Bumblebee director recently told IndieWire: "A lot of things have to go right for any movie to get made. On this, we have producers who believe in the material and believe in their filmmaker. And we have Mattel, who completely got behind my vision for the project... those things are not a given.

"If any one of those things doesn't work, then the movie doesn't work. And then, with me, you have a director who knew and loved the material.

"Sometimes, adaptations, no matter where they come from – book, graphic novel, video game, toy line - when I see them fall down, it's when the people involved in making the film don't understand what was special about the thing they are adapting. They don't love the thing they are adapting."

Masters of the Universe spent years stuck in the development doldrums before Knight was able to make his version - which stars Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes and Jared Leto - but he appreciates the "almost deranged" world of He-Man is difficult to translate into a film.

He said: "I do think it's kind of tricky material. In the sense that, it's weird. It's almost deranged. It's pure, uncut, Colombian-grade 80s excess. It's completely out there.

"There are barbarians with battle axes and swords, robots with laser guns, spaceships, a warlock with a skull for a face. None of that s*** should work. Some things shouldn't go together. And somehow, crazily, they do. And it does work."