‘I would sue:’ Netflix used AI to make Christopher Nolan do announcements for their holiday party, and people aren’t impressed

Christopher Nolan is one of our most influential filmmakers out there. So Netflix decided it’d be cute to allegedly use an AI version of the writer and director to announce their developments at a holiday party. Note: Christopher Nolan has never worked with Netflix.

According to Matthew Belloni’s Puck News newsletter, the company used an AI generated voice of Nolan to talk about what the company achieved. Which, weird all around. There’s no reason why the president of the company or a director they’ve worked with couldn’t have talked about the achievements that Netflix found in 2024.

Instead, they used AI Christopher Nolan and fans online were outraged on behalf of the Oppenheimer director.

Replies to the news all feature the same sentiment: Nolan should get mad about this. “‘Nolan launches lawsuit against Netflix’ would be the funniest headline to see after this,” one X user wrote. Another is convinced that Nolan will take action. “No chance Nolan isn’t going to go after them for this.”

Nolan’s history with Netflix isn’t great. He’s angry that the streaming platform refuses to support the theatrical release of their work. Just look at the film Hit Man which Netflix put on its streaming platform this year and should have gotten more attention than it is. It isn’t a great model. So Nolan, a champion of the cinematic experience, doesn’t have nice things to say about the streaming platform. Something many were pointing out.

“He’s never gonna direct a Netflix original you dweebs,” one X user wrote and it is odd behavior on Netflix’s part. What exactly do they think is going to happen with Nolan now?

Christopher Nolan’s views on AI

During the press tour for Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan was asked often about AI after fears of AI in weaponry grew. Nolan, for his part, tried to keep it focused on the very real threat that atomic weapons have over our governments. Nuclear war is something that stokes fear in civilians and he was trying to keep the conversation focused there.

But Nolan did note in an interview with The Washington Post that he was happy that his film was inspiring people to take the real fear of weaponry into consideration. Especially with the use of AI. “It’s a wonderful thing that scientists and technologists of all stripes are looking to history and looking at that moment and worrying about unintended consequences,” Nolan told the outlet at the time. “But I also think it’s important to bear in mind that the nuclear threat is a singular threat to humanity.”

He also said a similar sentiment to Wired when he spoke with them about AI and why he used it in Tenet. The point is that Nolan has talked about accountability in the use of AI technology. So I don’t really think the director who doesn’t like Netflix’s business model would be excited over the fact that the company used AI to use his voice seemingly without his consent. Can’t wait to see how this one plays out!