Jon M. Chu Criticizes Tech Companies Over AI Use in Entertainment
The 'Wicked' and 'Crazy Rich Asians' director voices concern over generative AI’s impact on the creative industry, urging studios to do more to protect artists and original work from unauthorized use.
Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Jon M. Chu has never been one to shy away from bold opinions when it comes to the future of storytelling. The director behind major titles like Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights, and the upcoming Wicked film adaptation, Chu has established himself not just as a visual stylist, but also as a vocal supporter of creative communities. Now, he’s weighing in on the heated debate around artificial intelligence in Hollywood—and he’s not pulling any punches.
Speaking at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Chu took the opportunity to publicly challenge Silicon Valley’s handling of generative AI. Despite growing up in the heart of the tech world himself—he was raised in the Bay Area—Chu said he’s alarmed by how quickly some companies have moved to exploit artists’ work to train machine learning systems. “There’s an initial sin here,” Chu told the crowd, referring to AI companies using copyrighted scripts, performances, and visuals without permission. “And it hasn’t been acknowledged or corrected.”
Chu’s comments come as the entertainment industry continues to reel from the aftershocks of last year’s writers’ and actors’ strikes, where AI usage was a central issue. At the core of many union demands was the need for clearer protections around digital likeness, voice cloning, and synthetic screenplays. While the strikes secured some initial safeguards, many creatives believe those were just the beginning of a much longer legal and ethical battle.
At the festival, Chu pointed to viral examples of AI art that borrow heavily from iconic creators—Studio Ghibli-inspired video game clips, deepfakes of actors in roles they never played, and AI-generated short films styled after directors like Wes Anderson. While these works may seem harmless or even clever, Chu argued that they’re a symptom of a much deeper problem: a culture that too often rewards speed and scale over originality and credit.
He also expressed concern that major studios have been slow to act, even as AI tools gain momentum across the entertainment pipeline. “We’re all watching this wave roll in, and too many people are standing there like it’s not going to hit them,” Chu said. “It will.”
Despite the gravity of his concerns, Chu was not entirely pessimistic. He emphasized that AI doesn’t have to be the enemy of creativity—if used responsibly, it could become a valuable assistant rather than a replacement. “There’s a version of this story where we integrate the tools in a way that still centers the human,” he said. “But we need to write that story ourselves.”
That measured stance reflects Chu’s broader career ethos. Known for infusing his films with vibrant visuals and emotional storytelling, he’s long championed the role of diverse voices in shaping culture. Now, he’s extending that advocacy to the realm of AI governance, urging studios and creators alike to be more proactive in setting boundaries.
Chu also spoke about his forthcoming projects, including Wicked: For Good, set to release November 21, and a limited series adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians in development at Max. He’s currently adapting a memoir by Britney Spears and working on a script based on the cult video game Split Fiction. Across all of these efforts, he says, the question of how AI intersects with authorship is becoming increasingly unavoidable.
He’s not the only one raising these questions, but his voice adds weight to the growing call for transparency and respect in AI development. In a field where visual effects, digital editing, and animation are already deeply entwined with software, Chu’s plea is less about rejection and more about recalibration.
“I love technology,” he said. “But I love the people who make the stories more.”