LogIn"Thank you, Silicon Valley! Yet again, you've f*cked up the world."
After months of anticipation, Pluribus – the latest series from Breaking Bad creator and Better Call Saul co-creator Vince Gilligan – has finally hit the screen, immediately earning widespread acclaim from regular viewers and critics alike.
Without going too far into spoiler territory, one of the show's plot points, as well as the "This show was made by humans" disclaimer in its credits, has led many to believe that one of Pluribus' messages is a critique of the artificial intelligence industry, prompting Gilligan to share his personal thoughts on AI in a recent interview.
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Speaking to Variety, the director revealed that he has a deep dislike for AI and the billion-dollar companies behind it, calling the technology "the world's most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine." He went on to say that he believes the promises made by said companies may be nothing more than "a bag of vapor," thinking of people selling AI only as "a bunch of centibillionaires, whose greatest life goal is to become the world's first trillionaires."
At the same time, the director noted that he wasn't thinking about AI or the snake oil salesmen running it when creating Pluribus, as the show was first conceived before the 2022 AI boom, and that he isn't particularly worried about artificial intelligence replacing real artists. "My toaster oven isn't suddenly Thomas Keller because it heats up a delicious pizza for me," he commented.
What does concern Gilligan, however, is the possibility of AI actually developing its own sentience and identity. He noted that if such a milestone were ever reached, it could effectively bring back the second half of the 19th century, making slavery the central focus of humanity's debates once again.
"These trillionaires are going to want to make money on this thing that is now conscious. Is it then a slave? At that point, it is a truly sentient being, and these Silicon Valley a**holes are going to monetize this against its own will, right?" the director said. "That's the story I would write. But that's been done to death."
As for AI-generated content in particular, Gilligan likened it to "a cow chewing its cud – an endlessly regurgitated loop of nonsense," arguing that the only reason the industry remains barely regulated after three years and exists largely in a legal twilight zone is the US' arms race with China in the field. "Thank you, Silicon Valley," he declared. "Yet again, you've f*cked up the world."
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