Frankenstein is Not an AI Metaphor
During the premiere of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein at the Venice Film Festival, the Oscar-winning director wanted the audience to know that his film was not a commentary on the hottest topic of 2025, artificial intelligence. While some people in Hollywood are more than willing to make a Frankenstein film that explores AI themes, del Toro emphasized that his work focused on telling a story rooted in the original themes and tropes from Mary Shelley’s novel.
Not Afraid of Ai, Only Afraid of Stupidity
“It’s not intended as a metaphor for that,” The Shape of Water director said in the Venice Film Festival press conference, as reported by Variety. “We live in a time of terror and intimidation, certainly. And there’s no more urgent task than to remain, in a time where everything is pushing towards a bipolar, understanding of our humanity. The movie tries to show imperfect characters and the right we have to remain imperfect, and the right we have to understand each other under the most oppressive circumstances.”
When asked further about the film potentially being an allegory, del Toro interjected that he isn’t afraid of artificial intelligence. “I’m afraid of human stupidity,” he said. The director’s commentary on AI doesn’t exist in a vacuum. In Hollywood, especially with all the recent buzz about the intersection of film and AI, del Toro emphasizes a common belief that AI as a tool is not the problem; it’s what people do with it that gives him pause.
AI and Creatives
From negotiating contracts between writers, actors, and their unions to studios using AI to generate entire opening credits, like Disney did with the opening of its Secret Invasion series on Disney+, or seeking ethical ways to apply machine learning to help with animation and reduce production time, AI has experienced both support and criticism. Del Toro suggests that the risk linked to the “stupidity” of humans is more about the danger of quick results that come at the expense of the human creativity needed to tell stories that resonate with audiences. For del Toro, who has published entire books exploring his creative process and demonstrating how seriously he approaches his stories and art, his initial response to the question posed to him is understandable.
For anyone who understands the effort involved in being creative, del Toro’s statement can serve as a reminder that AI is a tool, and like any other tool, it is only as ethical as the person using it. While generative AI may deliver quick results, creators know that true creativity involves hard work, something that is deeply personal to each artist, regardless of the medium they work in.
AI is Only as Ethical as We Make It
The use of AI demands a certain sense of responsibility and a willingness to be mindful of how you employ it. If individuals using these tools decide that speed and profit outweigh creativity and collaborating with creatives who have worked hard to perfect their craft, then the use of these tools will never showcase the best of what a story can be. Instead, it will only highlight the glaring flaws that come from relying solely on technology rather than on people who know how to use it ethically in conjunction with creatives.
As a reminder, if someone like del Toro depended on using generative AI to tell his stories, we would never have experienced the amazing and deeply human films that we’ve come to love and we definitely wouldn’t have his latest film, Frankenstein.