If you’re a fan of Vince Gilligan’s work, you know this guy doesn’t pull punches. The legendary showrunner just came up with some seriously bold statements about artificial intelligence (AI). In an interview with Polygon, Gilligan said:
I have not used ChatGPT, because as of yet, no one has held a shotgun to my head and made me do it.
He further added,
I will never use it. No offense to anyone who does.
Talk about making your position crystal clear! His newest series, Pluribus, even features a special disclaimer in the credits that reads,
This show was made by humans
That’s the kind of transparency we need right now.
Vince Gilligan and Guillermo del Toro’s United Anti-AI Stance on Creativity
Gilligan sees AI as what he calls,
the world’s most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine
And he’s got a point. In his conversation with Deadline, Gilligan explained that he believes AI is being designed to take creativity away from human beings. Gilligan asked,
When your selling point is: ‘This thing is great, it’ll write your high school essays for you, it’ll create your artwork for you if you’re an artist, so you don’t have to actually learn how to draw and paint anymore… what’s left to live for? The creative spark in human beings—it’s one of the most precious, wonderful things we have.
And he’s not fighting this battle alone. Fellow creative genius Guillermo del Toro shares remarkably similar views on AI. Del Toro has been equally vocal, stating he’d “rather die” than use AI technology for creative purposes (via NPR). When asked about del Toro’s stance, Gilligan didn’t hold back his admiration, calling him
an international treasure
and praising his commitment to protecting the creative spark that
animates him as a human being
(via Deadline). The timing is also perfect because even in the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, AI was a huge sticking point.
Here’s a list of some of the movies by Gilligan and del Toro:
Breaking Bad Creator’s Pluribus Shows What Human-Made TV Looks Like
Gilligan is backing up his stance on AI with action. Pluribus, which premiered on Apple TV+ with its first two episodes, follows author Carol Sturka (played by the brilliant Rhea Seehorn), who’s one of the only 12 people immune to an alien virus that transforms humanity into a relentlessly optimistic hive mind.
The show is Gilligan’s return to sci-fi since his X-Files days, and he’s bringing back complex characters, moral dilemmas, and that slow-burn tension we all love. Set in an Albuquerque backdrop, Pluribus is already getting great reviews (100% on Tomatometer).
Pluribus is streaming now on Apple TV+, with new episodes dropping every Friday through December 26, 2025.
