From Futurism · Frank Landymore · · 1m 20s
Werner Herzog has no patience for AI mimics
The director behind Fitzcarraldo says AI should replace the copycats, because copying was never filmmaking.
In brief
The director behind Fitzcarraldo says AI should replace the copycats, because copying was never filmmaking. AI does not expose a shortage of tools for artists, it exposes a shortage of anything original to say. Originally reported by Futurism.
A film made in his voice
A 2025 movie called About a Hero used an AI script trained on Herzog's films, then added an AI deepfake of Herzog himself as the narrator.
He said no, loudly
The 84-year-old director told the young filmmaker the idea was doomed before a frame was shot, and refused to have anything to do with it.
“It's phenomenally, abysmally stupid. I will not take part in it.”
AI can have the hacks
Herzog's argument is that AI only slots in where the work was already formulaic. Where there is no real storytelling, there is nothing for a machine to displace.
“I welcome AI to replace all the idiots who are into nothing but repeating, repeating, repeating.”
The tool exposes the user
A technology that can make anything tends to reveal how little the person driving it actually wanted to say. Most AI art just automates the unoriginal.
Films with no soul
Speaking to Conan O'Brien, Herzog described short films built entirely by AI, story and acting included. They were technically complete and completely dead.
“They are stories, but they have no soul.”
Stuck at the average
His verdict: AI can only return the internet's lowest common denominator. He also claims no computer will match his work for 4,500 years.
“The common denominator and nothing beyond this common denominator can be found in these fabrications.”
The main idea
AI does not expose a shortage of tools for artists, it exposes a shortage of anything original to say.
