Heretic releases on November 8^th, and while the movie has plenty to say, early screenings have people taking notice instead of a particular blurb in the end credits: “No generative AI was used in the making of this film.”

Heretic is Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ newest movie, and while the film has limited visual effects, Beck and Woods still felt it was important to include this statement.

For those who don’t know, generative AI can create many products, such as images or text, when given a prompt. It is recently gaining traction in the media despite mixed opinions on the ethics behind it. Blockbusters such as Furiosa and Alien: Romulus have used such AI programs in their making.

Woods has been quoted as saying:

I think this idea that an algorithm can just scrape all of human history and art off the internet, repackage it, regurgitate it, spit it out and somebody else can use that to create profit … I don’t know why that’s legal.

Woods wanted to make it clear in the credits that Heretic did not use such programs, and A24, the studio behind Heretic, has stood by this decision. In a time where more and more studios are embracing generative AI, such as Blumhouse and Disney, this stance is a refreshing one. Woods admits the appeal of AI and is impressed by its strength. However, he urges us as a society not to fall victim to it, stating, “Let’s bury it underground with nuclear warheads, cause it might kill us all.”