In May, Aronofsky launched Primordial Soup, a generative AI venture in partnership with Google DeepMind that provides AI tools to artists for use in filmmaking. The director somewhat messily tried to square these two beliefs by declaring AI to be “the new front in the war on meme culture.” At least he does seem aware that Elon “I am become meme” Musk is currently one of the technology’s greatest proponents. “These tools are coming. They’re being used at an incredible adoption rate, but they’re mostly being used for slop,” Aronofsky said. “So I feel that, as storytellers, we need to harness these tools to help us do our work. There are a lot of artists who are fighting against AI, but I don’t see that as making any sense. If we don’t shape these tools, somebody else will.”
That’s a pretty roundabout justification, but Aronofsky is standing his ground. These new technologies “are tools,” the director apparently “shot back” when challenged by his interviewer. “People are still going to be making films in the traditional way,” he asserted, but “it’s like if someone invents fire. You don’t say, ‘Oh, let’s not mess with this because it might burn down our house.’ There’s never been a technology that shows up that people aren’t going to use.”
While may be a relatively unpopular public stance among creatives, Aronofsky insists that in private conversations people are “deeply curious” about AI, which he thinks will lead to “new types of images and a lot of content that’s different—that’s not just mimicking other movies but is really doing something new.” It sounds like he really just doesn’t want to get left behind. “I don’t want to be one of those old men shouting at clouds… or shouting at the TV set, ‘Elvis Presley’s moving his hips and he needs to be banned,'” he said. “The world is changing. I’m trying to lean into the excitement. It’s time to shut up, stop complaining and dance.”
