Travis Knight Refuses to Embrace AI in Film 'at All': 'The Concern Is when It Supplants the Artist'

‘Wildwood’ Director Travis Knight Calls AI “Theft,” Says LAIKA Will Never Use It: “Absolutely F*cking Not”

There are far easier ways to make an animated movie than spending years painstakingly moving puppets a fraction of an inch at a time. In fact, there are probably few ways to make a movie more difficult. But don’t tell Travis Knight to take the easy route. LAIKA’s director and CEO has spent much of his career championing stop-motion animation. With his latest film, “Wildwood,” he and his team have apparently made things even harder on themselves.…

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

Director Travis Knight has expressed his opposition to generative AI in filmmaking, asserting that computers cannot "supplant" human artists.

'Wildwood' Director Hopes People "See The Danger" In GenAI

As Laika debuts its latest stop-motion animation, Travis Knight is standing firmly against generative AI. The Wildwood director and Laika CEO explained that GenAI “is antithetical to everything that we are at this studio,” also emphasizing that he hopes people “see the danger” in the technology’s potential as much as the “value.” “But all of […]

‘Wildwood’ Director Travis Knight on AI: ‘An Amazing Piece of Technology’ But ‘I’m Not Embracing It at All’

“Wildwood” director Travis Knight is weighing in on Hollywood’s use of AI. “I’m not embracing it at all,” Knight told me Wednesday night at AFI Fest’s opening night U.S. premiere of “Wildwood.” “I see technology as a tool, and we use technology at Laika. A pencil is technology, a paintbrush is technology, a 3D printer is a computer is technology. Technology is useful when you put it in the hands of people, when you put it in the hands of artist…

Wildwood director explains why his hugely acclaimed hand-crafted animation is the antithesis of AI – and proves stop-motion is worth fighting for

In the current climate, we are frequently told that AI is the future, with the rapid developments in the technology encouraging some pundits of its potential in a huge variety of fields (even as its dangers are pointed out in increasingly urgent fashion).But for most film fans – and just about anyone who admires art in any form – the idea of it ever replacing human made creative works is pretty much laughable.That's certainly the case when you w…

Wildwood’s director says AI is ‘antithetical to everything that we are at this studio’

Wildwood is the most ambitious film yet from Laika, the stop-motion studio best known for the likes of Coraline and ParaNorman. It's a sprawling fantasy adventure that took five years to complete. The process involved more 230 puppets - including 36 of the main character Prue alone - which were brought to life by a […]