Steven Soderbergh has defended his use of artificial intelligence in his forthcoming John Lennon documentary, revealing that around 10 per cent of the film consists of AI-generated images and videos. The Oscar-winning director said he believes Lennon would have approved of the technology.
The documentary focuses on Lennon's final in-depth radio interview, conducted with his wife Yoko Ono on 8 December 1980, just hours before he was murdered in New York. Soderbergh explained that AI was used to create visuals for sections where Lennon and Ono speak in abstract philosophical terms, filling gaps where archival material could not be found.
Working with tech company Meta, Soderbergh said the AI imagery is deliberately obvious and not intended to deceive. 'There's a way of using AI... to fool somebody or manipulate them,' he told Deadline. 'And then there's a use where it's obvious that it is AI and that it is being used essentially in the way that you would use VFX or CGI.'
The filmmaker consulted Lennon's son, Sean Ono Lennon, about how his father might have reacted to the technology. 'He said, 'Oh, he would've wanted to engage.' He loved all new technology. All The Beatles did,' Soderbergh recalled. The use of AI in film remains controversial, with the Oscars recently updating eligibility rules to require that performances are 'demonstrably performed by humans'.
