Tim Burton
Director
The gothic-whimsical auteur behind Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Batman. After seeing AI-generated versions of his own Disney character designs, he described the experience as something “sucking” from his soul — likening generative AI to a robot taking your humanity.
In their words
It’s like a robot taking your humanity, your soul.
They had AI do my versions of Disney characters. I can’t describe the feeling it gives you. It reminded me of when other cultures say, “Don’t take my picture because it is taking away your soul.” What it does is it sucks something from you.
Biography
Tim Burton (born 1958) is an American filmmaker whose gothic, darkly whimsical sensibility has produced some of Hollywood’s most distinctive popular cinema — Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Batman, Ed Wood, and the stop-motion The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. His handmade, hand-drawn aesthetic, rooted in his own illustrations, is central to his identity as an artist.
That is the context for his reaction to generative AI. In 2023 a viral project fed his work to an AI to produce “Tim Burton-style” reimaginings of Disney characters. Seeing machine imitations of his own hand left him shaken, and he reached for the language of something stolen rather than something made.
What it does is it sucks something from you. It takes something from your soul or psyche; that is very disturbing, especially if it has to do with you. It’s like a robot taking your humanity, your soul.
For Burton the objection is visceral and personal rather than economic or legal: the unsettling sensation of seeing a style he spent a lifetime developing regurgitated by a machine that never lived any of it.
Where they stand in the war
Who opposes them
Darren Aronofsky
Director
Academy Award-nominated director of Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, and The Whale, and one of the highest-profile filmmakers building AI into the craft. He founded the AI-focused studio Primordial Soup and partnered with Google DeepMind to develop AI-assisted projects.
David Lynch
Director
The surrealist auteur behind Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, and Mulholland Drive, whose dreamlike style gave us the word “Lynchian.” In one of his final interviews, months before his death in January 2025, he called AI “fantastic” and “incredible as a tool for creativity.”
Gareth Edwards
Director
British director of Rogue One, Godzilla, and The Creator who built his career making blockbuster-scale films with tiny crews and lean budgets. A visual-effects artist by training, he sees AI as a tool that could rank alongside the camera — and outdo CGI.
James Cameron
Director
Director of The Terminator, Aliens, Titanic, and Avatar, and one of cinema’s great technological pioneers. In 2024 he joined the board of Stability AI, calling the convergence of generative AI and CGI “the next wave” — while arguing it should speed up and empower artists, not replace them.
Martin Scorsese
Director
One of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, and a lifelong champion of film preservation. In 2026 he became an advisor to Black Forest Labs and spoke openly about using AI-generated storyboards in pre-production — framing AI as another tool for communicating a director’s vision, not a replacement for artists.
Steven Soderbergh
Director
Oscar-winning director and one of cinema’s most relentless technical experimenters, known for shooting and cutting his own films and embracing every new format from prosumer digital to the iPhone. He treats generative AI as just the latest tool worth getting his hands on.
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/tim-burton