The Oscar-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan, whose latest movie "The Odyssey" is dominating theaters, remarked that he finds it "pretty encouraging" how much suspicion exists around AI, particularly among younger audiences. During a TechCrunch interview on July 19, 2026, Nolan answered Hugo Travers, who wondered whether AI could start as a welcome daily tool but transform into "something else and something darker."
Laughing, Nolan said, "I think AI is a Trojan horse that everybody knows the Greeks are inside." He later described the technology as "a transparent horse, it's made of glass."
"I've never seen a technology advancing so rapidly [that's been] so completely rejected by the public," he said. "Everybody's suspicion of it is so extreme, particularly young people. The reaction to AI videos online and people my children's age immediately calling it 'AI slop' and coining that term and just putting it in a box."
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In Nolan's view, this is "a very healthy skepticism, because technology is always going to give us great gifts, as you say, but it has to be viewed with skepticism." Similarly, he said, "The motives of the people giving it to us also have to be viewed with skepticism. That's when we'll get the best out of a new technology, rather than just blind faith that everything's going to be great."
The director declined to elaborate on the dangers he sees in AI, though the issue has increasingly worried Hollywood and was central to the 2023 strikes by writers and actors. Nolan serves as president of the Directors Guild of America, which recently finalized an agreement that includes protections against generative AI.
Nolan has long avoided using smartphones and other modern gadgets. Because he champions analog film, Nolan sometimes appears as both a technophobe and a trailblazer; with "The Odyssey," he became the first director to shoot a movie completely using IMAX film and cameras. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Nolan was asked whether he considers himself a technophobe. He replied, "I think of myself as a techno-skeptic," "and said his love of film comes from the fact that it's" "better in terms of representing the way the eye sees the world than any digital imaging system I've seen."
"I embrace new technology all the time, but it tends to be sold to people at the expense of systems that might still be valid and viable," Nolan said. "That's what I saw in my industry - throwing the baby out with the bath water. We almost lost film!"
Nolan's comments come amid ongoing debates over AI's role in creative industries. The 2023 strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA highlighted fears that generative AI could replace human workers. Nolan, as DGA president, has been at the forefront of negotiating protections. His own filmmaking choices, such as shooting "Oppenheimer" on film and avoiding CGI where possible, reflect a broader skepticism of digital tools that he extends to AI.
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