While Hollywood debates the threat, Soderbergh’s quietly treating AI like just another tool in the kit.
There’s a certain predictability to how Steven Soderbergh approaches new tech: he gets in early, figures out what works, and ignores the noise.
This is the same filmmaker who was shooting features on iPhones before most directors would even consider it, and now – as AI panic ramps up across Hollywood – he’s already folding it into his workflow in a pretty practical, no-nonsense way.
As of 2026, Soderbergh is using it to make things look better, run smoother, and cost less.
One of the clearest examples is his upcoming documentary on John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
The bulk of the film – around 90% – is built on archival footage.
The AI comes in for the remaining 10%, filling in the gaps where literal footage falls short.
Think surreal, dreamlike sequences that reflect the couple’s more abstract ideas and philosophies.
It’s not a shortcut, either. Soderbergh has described the process as surprisingly demanding, likening it to needing a “PhD in literature” just to get prompts right. In other words: the tool might be new, but the creative labour is still very human.
He’s also eyeing AI for scale – particularly in a planned Spanish-American War film starring Wagner Moura.
Recreating 1898 battlefields the traditional way is brutally expensive. AI, for Soderbergh, is a workaround – a way to build out environments, crowds, and detail without blowing out the budget.
It’s not just about spectacle, either. He’s been using AI heavily in post-production – relighting shots, stabilising footage, matching exposure across cameras. The kind of stuff that used to chew up hours (and cash) in studio time.
Where Soderbergh really splits from the current conversation is his attitude.
At a 2026 festival talk, he shrugged off the idea that AI is some existential threat to filmmaking. If anything, he reckons the bigger issue is human mediocrity – not the tools we’re using.
He’s also pretty blunt about what AI can’t do. It doesn’t have life experience. It hasn’t felt heartbreak, fear, jealousy – all the messy, human stuff that actually fuels good storytelling. Without that, it’s not replacing great writing anytime soon.
For Soderbergh, AI sits in the same category as digital cameras or editing software: useful, powerful, but ultimately dependent on the person using it.
He’s described it as basically a high-end version of Photoshop – something that needs tight human control and a clear creative vision.
And that’s kind of the takeaway here. While the industry debates whether AI will kill cinema, Soderbergh’s already moved on to a simpler question: how can this help me make better films, faster?
