Ahead of the upcoming release of his film Disclosure Day in June, Steven Spielberg spoke on the IMO podcast, where he provided his thoughts on AI. Spielberg stated that he’s “withholding judgment on AI”, as he figures out precisely how it is being used. He also stated that he’s “not willing to substitute” any AI tool for work done by human artists in any capacity.  Spielberg explained,

There’s six writers, and there’s an empty chair, and there’s a computer in front of the empty chair, and it is the seventh writer. I’m not willing to substitute, because I don’t really believe in sentience. I don’t believe there is any substitute for the soul. I don’t think that is an algorithm that is inventible.

Spielberg did state, however, that he sees certain AI tools as useful in fields such as medicine and education, but only minimal use in creative fields such as filmmaking. Here’s his full explanation:

I don’t want AI involved in that way. If AI wants to help me find locations, that’s great. Saves us all a lot of legwork. But don’t tell me that I don’t have the right antagonist in this movie, don’t tell me how to write my dialogue for this character, don’t tell me where the camera has to go. And also, don’t tell me what the sets should look like, unless AI is simply a tool in the large tool chest of the production designer.

Disclosure Day releases in premium and standard format theaters on June 12th. Tickets are on sale now.