{"id":728013,"date":"2026-05-18T02:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T23:57:07","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-05-18T02:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T23:57:07","slug":"soderbergh-used-metas-ai-in-his-lennon-documentary-critics-hated-it-he-says-thats-the-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/soderbergh-used-metas-ai-in-his-lennon-documentary-critics-hated-it-he-says-thats-the-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Soderbergh used Meta&#8217;s AI in his Lennon documentary. Critics hated it. He says that&#8217;s the point."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40711dd6a0c\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40711dd6a0c\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/soderbergh-used-metas-ai-in-his-lennon-documentary-critics-hated-it-he-says-thats-the-point\/#TLDR\" >TL;DR<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.thenextweb.com\/2026\/05\/soderbergh-lennon-documentary-ai-meta-cannes.avif\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n<div class=\"postContent-tldr\">\n<h4 class=\"postContent-offsetTitle\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"TLDR\"><\/span>TL;DR<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><em>Soderbergh used Meta\u2019s AI for 10% of his Cannes Lennon documentary. Critics slammed it. He says the real problem is everyone else not disclosing.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Steven Soderbergh\u2019s \u201c<em>John Lennon: The Last Interview<\/em>\u201d premiered on Saturday at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. Built around a never-before-released two-hour-and-45-minute radio interview that Lennon and Yoko Ono gave to a San Francisco KFRC radio crew from their home in New York\u2019s Dakota Apartments on December 8, 1980, hours before Lennon was shot and killed, the 97-minute documentary is being discussed at Cannes less for what Lennon said than for how Soderbergh chose to visualise it.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/john-lennon-steven-soderbergh-ai-cannes-documentary-7794a4344ed455cae4c5780fa6610860\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Approximately 10% of the film\u2019s visuals were generated using Meta\u2019s AI software.<\/a> Soderbergh disclosed the partnership earlier this year and has been characteristically direct about the backlash that followed. \u201c<em>I knew what was coming,<\/em>\u201d he told the Associated Press in Cannes on Saturday. \u201c<em>You don\u2019t say yes to Meta offering you these tools and offering to finish the film and not know you\u2019re going to come in for some heat. That was part of the deal.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The AI-generated sections, which critics at Cannes overwhelmingly criticised, are abstract and surreal: circles of light, a black rose morphing into a choreographic pattern, paint colours mixing in split screen alongside lovers caressing. There are no deepfakes of Lennon. The sequences were created for passages where the conversation turns philosophical and no archival footage exists to illustrate the ideas being discussed. Soderbergh assembled more than 1,000 photographs and video clips from the archive to cover the rest of the film, editing them to the rhythm of the conversation in what reviewers have described as a hyperkinetic photo album.<\/p>\n<p>Soderbergh\u2019s framework for when AI is justified in filmmaking is simple: \u201c<em>It has to be necessary. Is it the only way to accomplish what I want to see? Is it truly the best way to do it?<\/em>\u201d He said the surreal sequences would have been prohibitively expensive to produce using conventional visual effects, and that the AI tools allowed him to iterate quickly on imagery he struggled to articulate verbally. \u201c<em>I wasn\u2019t very articulate to the people I was working with,<\/em>\u201d he said. \u201c<em>It was hard to describe the things I wanted to see. The good part about this <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> was at least the ability to have something in front of me quickly that I could respond to.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The broader argument Soderbergh is making is about transparency, not permission. \u201c<em>In the world outside of the creative context, we\u2019re not aware of the extent that this is being used and used to manipulate us,<\/em>\u201d he said. \u201c<em>We don\u2019t know because they\u2019re not telling. We find out after, by accident, by some whistle blower. I\u2019m like my own whistle blower.<\/em>\u201d The position is deliberately provocative: the problem, Soderbergh argues, is not that he used AI, but that he told people he used AI, while countless others are using it without disclosure.<\/p>\n<p>That argument aligns with data published this week by Canva, whose State of Marketing and AI Report found that 97% of marketing leaders now use AI daily, while 78% of consumers still prefer human-made creative work and 87% say the best advertising requires a human touch. Mentions of \u201c<em>AI slop<\/em>\u201d have increased ninefold. The gap between how widely AI is being used and how willing creators are to admit it is the structural dishonesty Soderbergh is pointing at.<\/p>\n<p>His position on AI\u2019s threat to filmmaking jobs is more measured than most industry voices. \u201c<em>I think most jobs that matter when you\u2019re making a movie cannot be performed by this tech and never will be performed by this tech,<\/em>\u201d he said. \u201c<em>As it becomes possible for anybody to create something that meets a certain standard of technical perfection, then imperfection becomes more valuable and more interesting.<\/em>\u201d The formulation inverts the usual anxiety: rather than AI raising the floor and eliminating human work, Soderbergh suggests it will make distinctively human imperfection the scarce and therefore valuable commodity.<\/p>\n<p>The film industry has been cautiously integrating AI tools for several years. Flawless AI\u2019s DeepEditor, which digitally alters video to synchronise actors\u2019 lip movements with dubbed audio tracks, has been deployed in mainstream productions since 2022 with the consent of performers through its Artistic Rights Treasury platform. The SAG-AFTRA strike of 2023 established that any meaningful digital alterations to performances require explicit actor consent. Soderbergh\u2019s use case is different: he is not altering existing performances but generating entirely new visual content to accompany audio that has no corresponding video. The ethical territory is less charted.<\/p>\n<p>The documentary itself, critics largely agree, is powerful regardless of the AI controversy. The Wrap called it a film that \u201c<em>does as much to demystify Lennon and Ono as \u2018Get Back\u2019 did to the Beatles.<\/em>\u201d Variety described the AI sections as the weakest part of an otherwise immersive experience. The conversation, edited by Soderbergh and Nancy Main from 165 minutes to 97, captures Lennon at 40 in a state of unusual clarity, talking about love, parenthood, creativity, and his desire to destroy what he called the \u201c<em>male rock star myth<\/em>\u201d at a time when nobody else in rock music was interested in doing so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>What I hope young people who see it get out of it is: This guy told the truth about everything from the jump, right up through the last day of his life,<\/em>\u201d Soderbergh said. \u201c<em>He was very opinionated but also very thoughtful and all in the aid of: Can we do this better? Can we do a better version of human beings on this planet?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The copyright and creative integrity questions that AI raises in filmmaking are not resolved by one documentary or one director\u2019s framework. Soderbergh acknowledges this openly. \u201c<em>I don\u2019t know where my line is yet. I\u2019m waiting to see,<\/em>\u201d he said. \u201c<em>Each creative person is going to have their own prism and be affected by it in different ways. Our inherent desire to have a simple template for how this is to be <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roached is part of the problem. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s possible.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The film does not have a distributor yet. It was financed in part by Meta, which provided both the AI tools and funding to complete the project. Whether audiences beyond Cannes will have the chance to judge the AI sequences for themselves, or whether the controversy will overshadow the conversation it was built to preserve, is a question that will be answered by whoever decides to buy it.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/soderbergh-lennon-documentary-ai-meta-cannes\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TL;DR Soderbergh used Meta\u2019s AI for 10% of his Cannes Lennon documentary. Critics slammed it. He says the real problem is everyone else not disclosing. Steven Soderbergh\u2019s \u201cJohn Lennon: The Last Interview\u201d premiered on Saturday at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. Built around a never-before-released two-hour-and-45-minute radio interview that Lennon and Yoko Ono gave to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-728013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}