Guillermo del Toro takes a hard stance on AI in art: staying human is essential
Guillermo del Toro is drawing a line for AI in storytelling—and making the case that creativity still counts even as the tech reshapes art.
During a wide-ranging sit-down for IGN’s IGN30 Icons series, Guillermo del Toro drew a bright line around where he thinks technology should stop and art should begin, framing the AI debate through the same human-first lens he’s bringing to his take on Frankenstein.
“The discourse between the soul of mankind and the arts is a very sacred discourse. It 's molecularly important to stay human,” del Toro said.
For a filmmaker whose creatures ache with loneliness and longing, the point tracks. From the rain-specked romance of The Shape of Water to the hand-hewn stop-motion of Pinocchio, his monsters aren’t just effects — they’re vessels for memory and emotion. That’s why, in his view, there’s a difference between generating an image and actually making art.
BioShock scars
Del Toro also looked back on a different technological crossroads: Hollywood ’s long-gestating BioShock adaptation. He confirmed he was involved in early concepts for a movie version of the game and recalled production talks that went south fast — calling one stretch “probably one of the most disastrous calls” of his professional life, as he told IGN.
Explaining why game worlds don’t translate cleanly to two-hour films, he drew a line between media that may share cinematic language but work on different engines. In games, he said, progress depends on the player — on solving, assembling and making decisions — which you can’t just port over wholesale to a movie.
He pointed to his own aborted game project, Insane, which he designed around what he called a “mandala” — a structure meant to feel like an infinite sandbox while quietly guiding people through their choices. The lesson, he suggested, dovetails with his AI stance: storytelling isn’t just the final image on a screen, it’s the maze of choices, instincts and mistakes that led there.
After multiple false starts, del Toro told IGN he has no appetite to dive back into game development, saying he “never” wants to make a video game again.