Seth Rogen to AI scriptwriters: ‘You shouldn’t be a writer, go do something else’

Actor, writer, and filmmaker Seth Rogen has come out strongly against the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in scriptwriting, saying those who rely on it have no business calling themselves writers. Rogen made the remarks at the Cannes Film Festival while speaking to media outlet Brut.

Rogen said he does not understand what AI is supposed to do in a creative context, and pointed to AI-generated videos circulating on social media as evidence of how poor the output actually is. “Every time I see a video on Instagram that’s like, ‘Hollywood is cooked,’ what follows is the most stupid dog shit I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said.

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‘You’re Not writing’

Rogen drew a clear line between using a tool and doing the actual work of writing. He stated that if a writer’s first instinct is to turn to AI rather than go through the writing process themselves, they should not be calling themselves a writer, “because you’re not writing.”

Rogen did not stop there. He added, “Go do something else. And if you don’t want to go through the process, you shouldn’t be a writer. The idea of a tool that makes me write less is not appealing to me, because I like writing.”

At Cannes to promote ‘Tangles’

Rogen was at Cannes to promote his new animated film ‘Tangles’, which follows a young woman as she deals with her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. He also noted that ‘Tangles’ came to life using entirely hand-drawn animation.

Producer and co-creator Lauren Miller Rogen, Seth Rogen’s wife, said she felt a personal connection to the story, as her own mother also suffered from Alzheimer’s. “Our moms were both teachers diagnosed in their early 50s. I related to the denial, fear and sense of aloneness that can come with a dementia diagnosis,” she said.

Not the first time

This is not the first time Rogen has spoken out against AI in Hollywood. During the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, he was equally direct.

Speaking at the premiere of his series ‘Platonic’, Rogen called the idea of AI writing television and movies “horrifying,” and said the studios’ willingness to push for it made things even worse.

At the time, AI’s potential to replace human writers was one of the central issues driving the WGA strike. It shut down Hollywood for months before a deal included some protections around AI use.