Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan is ripping artificial intelligence, calling it a “plagiarism machine” and “horseshit” in a recent interview.
Gilligan, who has become one of the few show creators who still has carte blanche in Hollywood after his huge success with twin hits Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, spoke to Variety about his recently debuted sci-fi thriller, Pluribus. During the interview, the TV mogul raked AI over the coals.
The new Apple TV series is not about the impending problems that artificial intelligence will present humanity, but there is a tantalizing note in the credits that shows how Gilligan feels about AI, which reads, “This show was made by humans.”
He had harsh words for the whole field of AI research in his comments to Variety.
“I hate AI,” Gilligan told the interviewer. “AI is the world’s most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine. I think there’s a very high possibility that this is all a bunch of horseshit. It’s basically a bunch of centibillionaires whose greatest life goal is to become the world’s first trillionaires. I think they’re selling a bag of vapor.”
He added that he isn’t afraid that AI will be able to replace human artists, saying, “My toaster oven isn’t suddenly Thomas Keller because it heats up a delicious pizza for me.”
But he does worry that AI will revive the discussion about slavery if AI actually develops sentience, saying Silicon Vally will continue to try and exploit it for cash.
“If they ever achieve that, then the whole discussion of slavery has to come back into the forefront of the conversation,” Gilligan explained. “These trillionaires are going to want to make money on this thing that is now conscious. Is it then a slave? At that point, it is a truly sentient being, and these Silicon Valley assholes are going to monetize this against its own will, right?”
Gilligan also warned that AI generated entertainment will be a “diet of crap.”
“Do you want to be fed a diet of crap? Is there enough calories in a diet of crap to keep you alive? The answer is yeah, probably. You could eat it,” he said, adding that AI entertainment will be “an endlessly regurgitated loop of nonsense.”
But the problems of AI are just beginning for Hollywood.
AI, though, is a particular threat that makes many of the industry’s other worry pale. Hollywood has reportedly lost more than 200,000 jobs and climbing to artificial intelligence. And so far, the studios have stayed awfully quiet over the matter, likely out of fear and powerlessness over the sea change.
OpenAI just released its latest AI tool, Sora 2, and kicked the discussion into overdrive as the studios rose up to demand that the AI company take serious measures to prevent its users from accessing copyrighted material to program their video generations.
Many other creatives are also unhappy over the prospects of AI taking over their industry.
Prolific actor Nicolas Cage, for one, has raised the alarm over AI, and said he fears that once he dies, studios will “steal” his body and use AI to continue making Nicolas Cage movies without him in control of it all.
Actor Sean Penn also blasted AI and in 2023 said that using it will create a “human obscenity.”
Ron Nyswaner, the author of the film Philadelphia, also warned about AI this year when he said that it will create soulless dreck that will remove the possibility for artists and viewers to “think and feel.”
Many notable filmmakers have also spoken out against the use of artificial intelligence.
Producer, writer, and director James Cameron warned that AI will lead to a Judgement Day-style cataclysm with out-of-control algorithms taking control of warfare.
Director Ridley Scott of Blade Runner fame called AI bad for humanity, and compared it to a “technical hydrogen bomb.”
Christopher Nolan said AI will surely reach an “Oppenheimer moment” — or a point of no return — and that people need to be “held accountable” for its development.
On the other hand, actor Ashton Cutcher praised the coming of AI and said that it will level the playing field and democratize entertainment so that just anyone could make compelling films and TV shows. And Popular actress Reese Witherspoon also urged Hollywood to embrace AI and said, “let’s not be scared of it.”
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