Ethan Mollick on AI Film: "Is It Art" Is the Wrong Question, Benjamin Said in 1935

emollick · x · 2026-09-19

Ethan Mollick notes genuinely interesting AI-created film work is emerging amid a flood of slop and will only accelerate. The "is it art?" debate will grow, but Benjamin's 1935 "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" argued it's the wrong question. He jokes the essay's second sentence reads like Claude wrote it — the aura fades further.

Related event: Mollick: Stop asking whether AI films are art(3 posts)→

Original post →

More from AGI Musings

AGI Musings channel →