TLDR: Veteran actress and screenwriter Emma Thompson vehemently expressed her ‘intense irritation’ with artificial intelligence, particularly AI writing tools, during an appearance on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’. Thompson, known for her Oscar-winning screenwriting, delivered an expletive-laden rant against AI’s intrusion into the creative process, emphasizing her belief in the human connection to writing.
London, UK – Renowned British actress and Oscar-winning screenwriter Emma Thompson recently made headlines with her passionate and expletive-filled denunciation of artificial intelligence on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’. During her appearance, which aired around October 28, 2025, Thompson articulated her ‘intense irritation’ with AI, particularly its growing presence in creative fields like screenwriting.
Thompson, celebrated for her adaptation of ‘Sense & Sensibility’, revealed her traditional writing process, stating, ‘I write long hand on a pad, old script actually, because I believe that there is a connection between the brain and the hand. So it’s very important to me.’ She explained that after completing her longhand drafts, she transfers her work to a Word document. It is here that she encounters the persistent prompts from AI tools, such as Microsoft’s Copilot, which constantly ask, ‘Would you like me to rewrite that for you?’
This intrusive suggestion evidently pushed Thompson to her breaking point, leading to her now-viral outburst. ‘And so I end up just saying, ‘I don’t need you to f***ing rewrite what I’ve just written! Will you f*** off? Just f*** off! I’m so annoyed,’ she recounted, clenching her fists in frustration. Her candid remarks resonated widely, highlighting a growing sentiment among creatives regarding the perceived threat and unwelcome interference of AI in their craft.
Colbert light-heartedly suggested she show her computer her Academy Award for screenwriting, to which Thompson quipped, ‘I don’t think it would care.’ She also recalled a past technological mishap while finishing the ‘Sense & Sensibility’ script, where her computer inexplicably transformed the entire document into ‘hieroglyphs,’ forcing her to redo the work – an incident she jokingly suggested the machine did ‘on purpose.’
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Thompson’s critique extends beyond mere inconvenience; she has previously voiced disdain for the term ‘content,’ viewing it as disrespectful to creative endeavors. Her stance aligns with other prominent figures in Hollywood, such as director Guillermo del Toro, who recently stated he would ‘rather die’ than employ generative AI in his filmmaking process. This collective pushback from established artists underscores a significant cultural debate about the role of AI in human creativity and the preservation of authentic artistic expression.
