Steven Spielberg Is ‘Not For’ AI Replacing Creatives

Steven Spielberg may have made a film titled “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” but he hasn’t adopted the technology in his filmmaking process, the legendary director told an audience at SXSW 2026.

Spielberg, whose filmography includes classics like “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Jaws” and “Jurassic Park,” said that he’s “never used AI on any of my films yet.”

While Spielberg is in favor of the technology “in many disciplines,” he said, “All the seats are occupied” in his writers’ rooms. “There’s no empty chair with a laptop on it,” he added.

The director, who is promoting his forthcoming sci-fi feature “Disclosure Day,” came out firmly against using AI for creative tasks, stating that, “I am not for AI if it replaces a creative individual.”

Spielberg’s own films have frequently grappled with the implications of new technology, including AI (in, unsurprisingly, “A.I. Artificial Intelligence”) as well as the metaverse in “Ready Player One.” For 2002’s “Minority Report” the director convened a “think tank summit” of futurists to flesh out its future world—with several of the technologies they imagined, including iris scanners and “spatial UI,” subsequently making their way into the real world.

Hollywood and AI

Spielberg’s comments come as the entertainment industry continues to grapple with the implications of artificial intelligence, with studios joining a growing chorus accusing AI firms of copyright infringement, even as they experiment with the technology.

Last week, Netflix reportedly paid as much as $600 million to acquire InterPositive, an AI startup founded by Ben Affleck that enables filmmakers to alter existing footage. The streaming giant states that it considers generative AI tools as “valuable creative aids when used transparently and responsibly,” having first used the technology to generate VFX in a show last year.

In December, actors and directors including Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, and Guillermo del Toro lent their weight to the Creators Coalition on AI, in a push for enforceable standards on the use of AI throughout the industry.

And just last month, AMC Theatres blocked an AI-generated short film from screening at its cinemas as part of pre-roll advertising, suggesting that the debate over AI—and audiences’ appetite for the technology—has a long way to go before being resolved.