‘Backrooms’ director Kane Parsons criticises AI as “cultural rot” that “defeats the purpose entirely” of creativity

Backrooms director Kane Parsons has hit out at AI, describing it as “cultural and economic rot”.

The YouTuber-turned-film maker has been enjoying success with his debut horror movie Backrooms, and has entered the discussion surrounding AI’s place in the future of the film industry. In an interview with The Australian, he made his feelings very clear about the technology.

“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” he said. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”

He continued: “What interests me more is interrogating it artistically. We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”

The 20-year-old film maker concluded: “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”

AI is a divisive subject in most industries, with the fear in Hollywood being that it could lead to the removal of human creativity from the process. Among those who have expressed their concern are Evangeline Lily, who claimed it was partly to blame for recent redundancies at Marvel, while James Cameron asserted that generative AI is “never going to take the place” of artists.

On the other side of the discussion, Steven Soderbergh has used generative AI for some sequences in his new documentary about John Lennon, while Martin Scorsese has said directors “have to be open” to how AI can help processes such as storyboarding.

As for Kane Parsons, he recently gave an amusing response to online claims that Backrooms was ‘ghost directed’. He also teased a sequel for the movie.

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