Seth Rogen is drawing a hard line against AI in screenwriting and creative work. Speaking at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival alongside Lauren Miller Rogen and writer Sarah Leavitt, he argued that using AI to avoid the writing process defeats the purpose of being a writer.
One of his strongest comments was:
“If your instinct is to use AI and not go through that process, you shouldn’t be a writer. ‘Cause then you’re not writing.”
Rogen also criticized many AI-generated videos circulating online, saying the examples people use to claim “Hollywood is cooked” often look unimpressive and creatively empty to him.
The discussion happened while promoting Tangles, a hand-drawn animated adaptation of Leavitt’s memoir Tangles: A Story about Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me. Rogen emphasized that the film’s handmade animation gives it a human quality that AI-generated work lacks:
“Every frame has a human touch to it.”
Leavitt added that, as a creative writing professor, she believes AI cannot replicate the experience of discovering ideas through the creative process itself. Lauren Miller Rogen also argued that AI can only remix existing material and cannot truly capture deeply personal lived experiences.
The conversation also tied into the couple’s long-running advocacy around Alzheimer’s disease. Seth and Lauren founded Hilarity for Charity after Lauren’s mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Their experiences also inspired the 2025 documentary Taking Care.
The cast of Tangles includes several well-known actors, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Pamela Adlon, Beanie Feldstein, Sarah Silverman, Abbi Jacobson, Samira Wiley, Wanda Sykes, and Bowen Yang.
