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Eli Roth slams AI use in divisive “Ice Cream Man” film

8/9/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Director Eli Roth says generative AI animated only a small portion of a few scenes in his 2026 film “Ice Cream Man.”
Roth told Polygon that he considers AI use in artistic creation cheating, lazy and evil.
Variety praised the practical gore while the Guardian warned that the expanding mythology and twists overwhelm the premise.
Early reviews were mostly negative, making “Ice Cream Man” one of Roth’s most divisive releases.

History

Historical Context

In July 2015 Google released DeepDream, an open-source visualisation tool built on the Inception network originally created for the 2014 ImageNet challenge. The algorithm’s psychedelic images sparked early debate over machine-generated art and, after Google reorganized as Alphabet that same year, set a precedent that filmmakers such as Eli Roth (2026’s Ice Cream Man) now follow using generative AI.

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Story summary

Director Eli Roth says generative AI animated only a small portion of a few scenes in his 2026 film “Ice Cream Man.”
Roth told Polygon that he considers AI use in artistic creation cheating, lazy and evil.
Variety praised the practical gore while the Guardian warned that the expanding mythology and twists overwhelm the premise.
Early reviews were mostly negative, making “Ice Cream Man” one of Roth’s most divisive releases.

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