For those who watched the entirety of Apple TV’s newly released series *Pluribus*, a curious and striking detail may have caught their attention in the final moments: a brief yet unmistakable statement embedded within the end credits — “This show was made by humans.” Though the message appears deceptively simple, its deliberate placement carries a considerable symbolic weight. Positioned immediately beneath an industry-standard note reassuring viewers that trained animal handlers were present on set to safeguard animal welfare, this compact declaration subtly but decisively distinguishes the production from an ever-growing number of works that now incorporate or rely upon generative artificial intelligence. In doing so, it gestures toward a new kind of artistic transparency, one that acknowledges contemporary anxieties about technology’s encroachment upon human creativity while simultaneously reaffirming the irreplaceable role of human artisanship in storytelling.
This human-authored disclaimer could well serve as a prototype for other film and television creators eager to demonstrate that their projects remain untainted by algorithmic creativity. In an era in which AI-generated scripts, soundtracks, and even entire visual sequences are beginning to populate popular media, such an explicit assurance functions as both a quiet protest and a marketing statement. It signals authenticity, asserting that the series originates from genuine human thought, emotional intuition, and lived experience—qualities that machines, regardless of sophistication, can at best simulate but never truly possess.
The show’s creator, Vince Gilligan—celebrated writer and producer best known for *Better Call Saul* and *Breaking Bad*—emphasized this sentiment even more forcefully during an interview with *Variety*. Speaking candidly and without reservation, Gilligan declared his unambiguous aversion to artificial intelligence with the straightforward admission, “I hate AI.” He elaborated on this perspective with passionate criticism, describing the technology as “the world’s most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine,” thereby indicting the way generative algorithms replicate preexisting creative works to produce superficially new material. To illustrate his contempt, Gilligan invoked a vivid metaphor, likening AI-generated content to “a cow chewing its cud,” an evocative image meant to convey a process of endless regurgitation—recycling and reprocessing what already exists rather than producing anything genuinely novel or original. Concluding on a note of dark humor, he laughed and exclaimed, “Thank you, Silicon Valley! Yet again, you’ve f—ed up the world,” a wry acknowledgement of the unintended consequences that often accompany technological innovation.
*Pluribus* marks Gilligan’s return to the realm of science fiction, a genre that historically interrogates the relationship between humanity and technology—the very tension reflected in both his disclaimer and his remarks. The series also reunites him with his *Better Call Saul* co-star Rhea Seehorn, who takes on the role of a novelist specializing in the romantic-fantasy niche, suddenly swept into the chaos of an alien invasion. Through this narrative premise, the show seamlessly intertwines the imaginative with the philosophical, using speculative fiction to explore themes of human identity, authorship, and creative ownership in an increasingly digital age. Thus, what begins as a seemingly minor detail in the closing credits blossoms into a larger cultural statement about artistry, authenticity, and the enduring necessity of the human voice in an automated world.
Sourse: https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/08/breaking-bad-creators-new-show-pluribus-was-emphatically-made-by-humans-not-ai/
