Director Morgan Neville flees artificial intelligence after ‘Roadrunner’ backlash

One of the most eye-catching aspects of “Roadrunner,” the Morgan Neville-directed documentary about Anthony Bourdain, was Neville’s use of artificial intelligence to replicate Bourdain’s voice.

Looking back now, Neville told Wired that he sees this as a “fun” way to “end up.” [Bourdain’s] voice from the film.” But his approach drew a lot of criticism — while the fictional Bourdain read the words the real Bourdain had written, Neville said many viewers thought, “Oh, they just did. [expletive] up.”

“Many people told me that there are other documentary programs doing the same thing, they all responded; they change what they are doing or put giants in everything,” he said.

Since then, the director has “resolutely avoided” using AI. Even in his new documentary “Piece by Piece,” in which he recreates the life of singer Pharrell with Legos (yes, really), Neville was careful to be specific.

“Carl Sagan came in [Piece by Piece] he says, ‘Pharrell’ and I made it clear to everyone that we were going to, with his widow’s permission, say ‘Pharrell’ without using AI,” said Neville. “We actually tried to build the word out of syllables [he actually said].”