Laika CEO Travis Knight: 'I'm Not Embracing Generative AI at All'

Travis Knight, CEO of stop-motion studio Laika and director of the upcoming Masters of the Universe adaptation, has drawn a firm line against generative AI in filmmaking. Speaking to Variety, Knight argued that technology is only valuable when it amplifies an artist's voice — not when it replaces one. "The concern is when it supplants the artist," he said, adding that "the computer cannot speak about humanity at all. It doesn't know what it feels like."

Knight's position reflects a growing debate in the film industry over where useful production tooling ends and displacement of human creative authorship begins. His comments carry particular weight coming from the head of a studio whose identity is built around handcrafted, labor-intensive stop-motion craft.