Hollywood multi-hyphenate Seth Rogen has never been one to mince words, and his latest target is the growing wave of generative technology creeping into the entertainment industry. Speaking candidly during a press circuit at the 79th Annual Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, May 16, 2026, the Superbad and The Studio writer-producer delivered a blunt ultimatum to creatives: if your instinct is to use artificial intelligence to write scripts, you simply shouldn’t be a writer.
The Seth Rogen AI scriptwriting interview 2026 took place while the filmmaker was promoting his upcoming animated feature, Tangles. When asked about the rising utilization of large language models and digital generators in modern filmmaking, Rogen expressed utter confusion over what the technology is actually trying to accomplish.
“I don’t understand what it’s supposed to do,” Rogen told the French media outlet Brut. “Every time I see a video on Instagram that’s like, ‘Hollywood is cooked,’ what follows is the most stupid dog sh*t I’ve ever seen in my life. And if your instinct is to use AI and not go through that process… you shouldn’t be a writer. Because you’re not writing.”
For Rogen, the true essence of the craft is completely tied to the grueling, often painful journey of staring at a blank page—a step he feels technology actively robs from the creator. “Go do something else,” he added bluntly. “The idea of a tool that makes me write less is not appealing to me, because I like writing.”
Rogen’s anti-AI stance is fully reflected in the production methodology of Tangles. The animated film, which follows a 20-something woman navigating early adulthood alongside her mother’s early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis, rejected modern digital shortcuts entirely. Rogen proudly noted that the film relies exclusively on traditional, hand-drawn frame-by-frame animation, ensuring that “every frame has a human touch to it.”
Rogen’s viral comments add to a heavily divided studio landscape. While some industry figures have shown curiosity toward tech integration, the broader creative community remains fiercely defensive of human labor.
The conversation has reached an all-time high following recent, sweeping rule updates by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which officially decreed that fully AI-generated screenplays and artificial actors are entirely ineligible for Oscar consideration. For pure writers like Rogen, the distinction between machine aggregation and genuine human soul isn’t just an ethical preference—it’s the entire baseline of the profession.
