Travis Knight Rejects AI That Replaces Artists — SkimNews
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- Travis Knight said at Wednesday night’s AFI Fest opening-night U.S. premiere of “Wildwood” that he is “not embracing” generative AI, calling it amazing while warning against replacing artists because he says computers cannot speak about humanity or know what it feels like.
- Laika uses pencils, paintbrushes, 3D printers and computers as tools for amplifying an artist’s voice, while Knight rejects generative AI when it takes the artist’s place.
- Wildwood took 16 years to complete; Knight rejected the idea of an AI-assisted speedup that preserved the quality he sought and said the notion filled him with rage.
- Wildwood follows a young girl who enters a forbidden forest after a murder of crows kidnaps her baby brother; Peyton Elizabeth Lee plays the girl.
- Travis Knight said Wildwood’s emotional, beautiful and heartfelt core sustained him through its 16-year production more than its epic scope, and he hopes audiences take that emotional quality away.
Why it matters: For Laika’s artists, “Wildwood’s” 16-year production is Knight’s concrete example of the human care, devotion and time embodied in stop motion. His standard favors tools that amplify artists, while rejecting replacements because he says computers lack the loss, love and pain behind the film’s emotional core.
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