Danny Boyle confirms he used about 30 seconds of AI in new film Ink — and warns it could replace journalism

The Oscar-winning director confirmed the generative-AI moments in his Rupert Murdoch drama Ink, while cautioning that tech giants' AI could one day replace journalism.

Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle has confirmed that his new film Ink — a drama about the launch of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The Sun — used around 30 seconds of generative AI, Deadline reports.

Speaking to Vanity Fair at the Telluride Film Festival, Boyle said the AI was used to animate a couple of old photographs — which viewers had speculated included images of the Kray brothers and former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher — plus a few mice scuttling through The Sun's newsroom. "There's about 30 seconds of it in our movie where we animate a couple of old photographs," he said, adding: "It's very good for animals."

Boyle called AI "a very useful tool in many ways, provided you use it respectfully and provided you pay actors if you're going to replace them with some kind of AI embodiment." But he struck a cautionary note about journalism at the film's Venice press conference, Sky News reports — warning that "the danger with the tech giants and their AI is that they will be able to replace journalism... will that AI journalist speak truth to the power that created it?"

The Studiocanal and Netflix film, starring Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy, opened the Venice Film Festival this week and arrives in cinemas in December before streaming on Netflix in January.