Gareth Edwards: Nine Months Experimenting With AI Filmmaking

Gareth Edwards has been testing AI diffusion models in depth for the past nine months and plans to make a hybrid generative AI film. He told a panel he is not ready to commit to a project yet because the tools are evolving too fast. The director of The Creator, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Jurassic World Rebirth is among the most technically experienced filmmakers in Hollywood when it comes to AI production.

Nine Months With Diffusion Models

Edwards is direct about what he found. "It is a fucking genius at helping you", he told the panel. He described the technology as a total collaborator: "it'll do anything you ask, not a problem". He said AI is particularly useful for organizing ideas, testing concepts, and generating concept images during development.

He also drew a precise limit. AI cannot generate human stories that resonate with audiences. The filmmaker's vision and the reason a story needs to be told remain the filmmaker's responsibility. "The fucking genius" part, in his framing, is in service of that human intent.

The Creator as Context

Edwards' enthusiasm comes from direct experience. His 2023 film "The Creator" used AI tools extensively in pre production, generating concept art and large scale environments that would have cost a multiple of the production's actual budget through conventional VFX methods. The film was shot entirely on location across Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Japan, and the UK rather than on volume stages.

That production gave Edwards a working understanding of where AI adds real value, well before most directors who publicly comment on the subject had their first hands on session with the tools. The film's production approach, using AI alongside traditional ILM work to achieve a large visual scope on a fraction of a typical blockbuster budget, was widely studied in the industry as a new model for how to make a certain kind of film.

Why He Is Waiting

Despite nine months of personal experimentation, Edwards has not committed to a hybrid AI film. His reason is specific. "It feels like this stuff's changing every three months", he said. Starting a project on a fixed timeline when the underlying tools are evolving at that speed means the production could be overtaken by a better version of the same technology before it finishes.

He described the overall uncertainty of AI's direction in Hollywood as genuine: "We don't know where it's going to go", he said. "I think anybody saying they know exactly what's going to happen over the next five years is just a liar". That uncertainty is not a reason to stay out of the space. It is a reason to wait for the right window before committing.

A Different Position From Spielberg

Edwards' approach sits in a different place from Steven Spielberg's. Spielberg told Michelle Obama's podcast in May 2026 that he uses AI for practical tasks such as location research but refuses to use it as "the final word on anything creative". Edwards draws no such creative limit. He sees AI as a full development partner, with the filmmaker maintaining direction through continuous prompting.

Peter Jackson took a comparable stance at Cannes 2026, calling AI "just a special effect like any other". Edwards is further along in personal experimentation than most directors who have offered opinions: nine months of active testing before making any public statement about his intentions.

Filmmakers who want to test the same class of tools can access the latest AI video models through AI FILMS Studio.

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Sources

The Hollywood Reporter | IndieWire | The Wrap | Variety