By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
AI art has become a contentious topic in every genre it touches, and movies are no exception. Recently, social media has erupted with short clips of movies made entirely by artificial intelligence, starring famous actors like Keanu Reeves, and featuring astonishing action sequences or mind-blowing special effects. However, not everyone is on board with artificial intelligence being the cameraman in movies, resulting in a division among filmmakers about whether to use it during production.
Justine Bateman, former star of the sitcom Family Ties and sister of Jason Bateman, is heading the charge against what she calls “AI slop” in filmmaking. Bateman has evolved her career to become a writer and director, as well as a proponent for naturalness: she does not agree with cosmetic surgery and believes in aging naturally. She also strongly objects to using artificial intelligence to make movies, likening it to stealing.
To help sponsor movies that don’t use AI, Bateman has teamed up with other filmmakers, such as writers, directors, special effects artists, set designers, and actors, to form Credo 23. This organization was assembled to endorse films, television, and advertising that don’t use artificial intelligence in production. The group also holds a film festival each year that features entries from up-and-coming filmmakers who engage in “movie magic” rather than computers. Entries for the March 2026 Credo 23 festival are being accepted until December 2025.
Bateman objects to artificial intelligence in film because she claims it is stealing art from creators. Scenes made using AI analyze similar scenes from movies already made, then use the collected data to form a new, similar scene. Bateman points out that the creators of the analyzed content are never credited for their work. “Using AI for a shot is a regurgitation of the past,” she explained in an interview.
“Humans have always figured it out,” she also said, meaning the tricks used by special effects experts before the advent of CGI. From the imaginative “underwater” movement in The Thief of Baghdad to the underwater mirror shot that opens Sunset Boulevard to the monstrous creations of Ray Harryhausen, movie makers have enticed and astounded audiences with practical illusions for over a century.
The Difference Between AI And CGI
CGI added computers to the effects, but still left room for practical effects and human actors. These days, there are even actors created by artificial intelligence, and that doesn’t mean re-creating Peter Cushing to play Grand Moff Tarkin.
Tilly Norwood, entirely an artificial creation, has caused debate in Hollywood around what constitutes an actor. If filmmakers can resurrect deceased performers or program new ones, will there be any room for living humans to act? Artificial actors and other computer-generated creatures bypass Screen Actors’ Guild rules, including the need for a paycheck.
James Cameron Leads The Charge In Favor Of AI
Proponents of AI in filmmaking include directors like Ridley Scott and James Cameron, both of whom are known for films that include a lot of special effects. It’s true that AI can enhance the effects portrayed in films by giving viewers shots of angles and settings that would otherwise not be possible. Expensive special effects budgets can be reduced by programming artificial intelligence to simulate difficult or effects-heavy scenes.
AI supporters also point to the number of movies that can be produced each year with artificial intelligence as opposed to live action and practical effects. Even if some of the movies or scenes are “slop,” supporters claim that there is a higher chance of scoring a box office hit if there are more movies being made. AI allows movies to be made faster, and also overcomes location issues, such as seasonal filming, population control, or accessibility.
The problem with AI, however, is as Justine Bateman says: artificial intelligence does not create things, it merely reshapes what already exists into another form. There is no creativity and no human element, as evidenced by the number of AI still pictures that get nitpicked for issues like too many fingers on a human hand or limbs that are in unnatural positions. AI might be able to simulate an amazing action scene, but it cannot come up with an original plot or make the characters three-dimensional. AI is not the next CGI because the magic of a movie isn’t in what a computer can mimic, it’s in how humans create a believable illusion.
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