Wildwood’s director says AI is ‘antithetical to everything that we are at this studio’

<figure> <img alt="A still from the stop-motion film Wildwood showing a child with glasses in a tall military-style hat next to a woman in armor." data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Image: Laika" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/WILDWOOD-Curtis-Alexandra-Still-Credit_-LAIKA.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph"><em>Wildwood</em> is the most ambitious film yet from Laika, the stop-motion studio best known for the likes of <em>Coraline</em> and <em>ParaNorman</em>. It's a sprawling fantasy adventure that took five years to complete. The process involved more 230 puppets - including 36 of the main character Prue alone - which were brought to life by a team of 49 animators. All told, more than 1,000 artists worked on the film in some form. The painstaking process that goes into making a Laika film offers a distinct counterpoint to the instant progress promised by generative AI tools.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Recently <em>Wildwood</em> director and Laika CEO <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/antiai/comments/1xbiclk/wildwood_director_travis_knight_says_ai_is_not_a/">Travis Knight joined</a> <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/10/guillermo-del-toro-would-rather-die-than-use-generative-ai-1236597071/">a chorus</a> <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/f-ai-star-wars-and-knives-out-director-rian-johnson-blasts-ai-as-making-everything-worse-in-every-single-way">of influencer</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/13/christopher-nolan-odyssey-director-comments-ai-artificial-intelligence">filmmakers</a> …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/1016647/wildwood-travis-knight-interview-ai-laika-stop-motion">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>