‘Heretic’ directors take swipe at AI in end credits: “It might kill us all”
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(Credits: A24)
Many viewers have noticed a hidden message within the latest A24 project Heretic, directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. While the film has many thematic layers, perhaps the most relevant message was during the film’s end credits, with a statement saying, “No generative AI was used in the making of this film”.
Heretic tells the story of two Mormon missionaries who find themselves trapped in the house of an older man (played by Hugh Grant). While the film has limited visual effects, the filmmakers wanted to include this message in their credits and end on a poignant note about an urgent topic that has become increasingly relevant within the creative fields.
Woods stated, “We have no illusions that when people watch Heretic they’re going to go, ‘Wait, did they use generative AI? It doesn’t feel like that at all, but it was important for us to put that out there because we think it’s something people need to start talking about.”
Recent projects such as Alien: Romulus and Furiosa have made us of generative AI, which is the process of creating images, video and text by gather collective data from other existing sources, usually in response to a prompt and command to replicate the style of something else. There have been many discussions about its use in post-production, with some filmmakers opting to use it when creating special effects.
However, Woods has not held back when sharing his feelings on the new technology, describing AI as, “…an algorithm jumbling a bunch of shit together and then spitting it out as art. It’s not human and it’s borderline theft on some level”.
He further expanded on this, saying, “I think this idea that an algorithm can just scrape all of human history and art off the internet, repackage it, regurgitate it, spit it out and somebody else can use that to create profit … I don’t know why that’s legal,” he continues. “It’s important for people to start talking about the need for human intersection in art, business and every facet of this life, because we’re on the precipice of every job on planet Earth being replaced overnight. It’s going to happen so fast. And it’s easy for it to happen in the arts. We’re in a business that is exceptionally greedy. Decisions are made for the bottom line and not for the good of the artistic process.”
Beck has spoken about the support from A24 in including this statement, who are famous for championing creativity and the art of filmmaking. However, despite their criticism of generative AI, many other studios are investing in the technology and testing its effectiveness within film production. A recent study by Goldman Sachs revealed that AI could eventually take over 300 million full-time jobs, and so Woods’ criticisms of the technology feels increasingly urgent.
He further expanded on his criticisms by saying, “AI is an amazing technology. Beautiful things will come of it, and it’s jaw-dropping. What is being created with generative AI and video … it’s amazing we could create that technology. Now let’s bury it underground with nuclear warheads, cause it might kill us all.”
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