{"slug": "odyssey-director-christopher-nolan-calls-ai-an-obvious-trojan-horse", "title": "‘Odyssey’ director Christopher Nolan calls AI an obvious ‘Trojan horse’", "summary": "Christopher Nolan, the Oscar-winning director of 'The Odyssey,' called AI 'a Trojan horse that everybody knows the Greeks are inside' and said he finds it 'pretty encouraging' to see deep skepticism of the technology, especially from young people who label AI videos as 'AI slop.' Nolan described AI as 'a transparent horse, it's made of glass' and emphasized that technology must be viewed with skepticism, stating, 'The motives of the people giving it to us also have to be viewed with skepticism.'", "body_md": "Christopher Nolan, the Oscar-winning director whose new version of “The Odyssey” is currently [conquering the box office](https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/box-office-the-odyssey-opening-day-christopher-nolan-1236815411/), said it’s been “pretty encouraging” to see deep skepticism of AI, [especially from young people](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/17/if-youre-giving-a-commencement-speech-in-2026-maybe-dont-mention-ai/).\n\nNolan was [responding to a question from interviewer Hugo Travers](https://youtu.be/3jHpisxcmkc?si=3rYaEM8J5hzn3plL), who publishes on YouTube under the name HugoDécrypte. Travers brought up the legendary Trojan horse, which plays a key role in Nolan’s film — just as the horse was a gift concealing murderous Greek invaders, he wondered if AI might be something “that you welcome in your daily life” only to see it become “something else and something darker.”\n\nLaughing, Nolan responded, “I think AI is a Trojan horse that everybody knows the Greeks are inside.” He later described the technology as “a transparent horse, it’s made of glass.”\n\n“I’ve never seen a technology advancing so rapidly [that’s been] so completely rejected by the public,” he said. “Everybody’s suspicion of it is so extreme, particularly young people. The reaction to AI videos online and people my children’s age immediately calling it ‘AI slop’ and coining that term and just putting it in a box.”\n\nIn Nolan’s view, this is “a very healthy skepticism, because technology is always going to give us great gifts, as you say, but it has to be viewed with skepticism.” Similarly, he said, “The motives of the people giving it to us also have to be viewed with skepticism. That’s when we’ll get the best out of a new technology, rather than just blind faith that everything’s going to be great.” (Meanwhile, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been [angrily posting about the film’s nonwhite and transgender cast members](https://variety.com/2026/film/news/elon-musk-the-odyssey-lupita-nyongo-helen-of-troy-1236747385/).)\n\nNolan didn’t get more specific about what he views as the threat from AI, but the technology has been a growing source of concern in Hollywood and was a major focus during [the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023](https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/26/writers-strike-over-ai/). The Directors Guild of America, where Nolan is president, [also ](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/directors-guilds-four-year-deal-plan-1236620542/)[w](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/directors-guilds-four-year-deal-plan-1236620542/)[on some generative AI protections](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/directors-guilds-four-year-deal-plan-1236620542/) in its most recent contract.\n\nThe director has been famously resistant to other technologies, including smartphones; his embrace of film can make him seem simultaneously like a [Luddite](https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/rethinking-the-luddites-in-the-age-of-ai) and a pioneer, with “The Odyssey” becoming the first feature film to be shot entirely on Imax film and cameras.\n\nWhen The New York Times [recently asked Nolan if he thinks of himself as a technophobe](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/25/movies/odyssey-christopher-nolan.html), he replied, “I think of myself as a techno-skeptic,” and said his love of film comes from the fact that it’s “better in terms of representing the way the eye sees the world than any digital imaging system I’ve seen.”\n\n“I embrace new technology all the time, but it tends to be sold to people at the expense of systems that might still be valid and viable,” Nolan said. “That’s what I saw in my industry — throwing the baby out with the bath water. We almost lost film!”", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/odyssey-director-christopher-nolan-calls-ai-an-obvious-trojan-horse", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/19/odyssey-director-christopher-nolan-calls-ai-an-obvious-trojan-horse/", "published_at": "2026-07-19 14:52:08+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-20 13:44:54.398463+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-ethics", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Christopher Nolan", "Hugo Travers", "Directors Guild of America", "Elon Musk", "SpaceX", "The New York Times"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/odyssey-director-christopher-nolan-calls-ai-an-obvious-trojan-horse", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/odyssey-director-christopher-nolan-calls-ai-an-obvious-trojan-horse.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/odyssey-director-christopher-nolan-calls-ai-an-obvious-trojan-horse.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/odyssey-director-christopher-nolan-calls-ai-an-obvious-trojan-horse.jsonld"}}