Spike Lee's 'Highest 2 Lowest' Takes a Hard Stance on AI

It's always a pleasure to listen to Spike Lee talk about his films. And that's why I was so excited he has a new one that debuts on AppleTV today, Highest 2 Lowest.

It's a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 classic High and Low, and it's clear from the jump that this is a project Spike is passionate about. He spoke to USA Today about the movie and its moral centers.

One quote that stood out to me was about AI in the movie and in real life.

Let's dive in.

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Spike Lee's View on AI and the World

For those of you who don't know, Highest 2 Lowest is a tense thriller about a wealthy executive whose life is turned upside down when his son is kidnapped. But in a crazy twist, it turns out the kidnappers grabbed the wrong kid – they snatched his chauffeur's son instead.

The executive is then faced with a moral dilemma: does he pay the ransom to save the life of a boy who isn't his, or does he protect his own fortune?

Spike Lee brings a very fresh perspective to this story, and his auteur sensibilities are all over the screen.

In the movie, we hear that the record exec, played by Denzel Washington, is dealing with something everyone in Hollywood is dealing with right now: AI.

While in the interview, Lee doesn't go on about that — he quotes his own movie saying, “AI has no music, no soul. It's not human. No heartbeat.”

Lee goes on to talk about what AI is doing to the next generation, something that's very evident in the subtext of his film.

Lee said, “How many young people are cheating theirselves of knowledge and wisdom because their computer's writing their papers?” he says. “Get mad at me if I sound like an old fuddy-duddy. So you get a grade, but did you learn anything by this computer writing your term paper? Somewhere down the line, you get bit in the butt because you cheated. You took a shortcut.”

These shortcuts are stifling an entire generation's voices and originality. In the movie, we see this explored by a gangster who wants to make money quickly and easily, instead of going through the struggle of an artist to make it to the top.

They want a shortcut.

We're seeing this a lot in Hollywood now. Posers who think they're artists are using AI to just generate slop in order to try to become their favorite filmmakers, instead of doing what it takes to struggle and climb the mountain. They want the easy way in, not the complications of breaking in.

I admired Lee's layering of that into his film and into his answers here. And I do think it's a message that younger generations should heed.

Work hard and be rewarded.

Let me know what you think in the comments.