Emma Thompson explains her ‘intense irritation’ with intrusive AI technology

Thompson went off about the technology during her Monday appearance on Stephen Colbert’s late night show

Emma Thompson is not mincing words when it comes to artificial intelligence.

The Oscar-winning actor and screenwriter spoke about the emerging technology Monday during her interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, admitting her “intense irritation” with AI.

“I cannot tell you, I cannot begin to tell you,” Thompson, 66, said on the late night show, causing the studio audience to laugh as she became visibly frustrated talking about the tech, even clenching her fists. Thompson told Colbert that she prefers to write longhand on a writing pad because of her belief of a “connection between the brain and the hands,” and that she transfers the words to a Word document on her computer when she’s finished writing something.

“Recently, the Word document is constantly saying, ‘Would you like me to rewrite that for you?’” Thompson said, appearing to reference Microsoft’s AI system Copilot, which can help users rewrite or edit text.

She then yelled out, “And so I end up just going, ‘I don’t need you to f**king rewrite what I’ve just written! Will you f*** off? Just f*** off! I’m so annoyed.’”

Emma Thompson became angry when she spoke to Stephen Colbert about artificial technology (CBS)

Thompson revealed she prefers to write longhand rather than on the computer (Getty Images)

Colbert then jokingly suggested that Thompson show her computer the Academy Award she won for her screenwriting on the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility, which made her the only person to ever win an Oscar for both acting and writing.

“I don’t think that it would care,” Thompson told Colbert, pretending to cry.

This isn’t the first time she’s erupted in anger over technology. She said that while she was writing the Sense and Sensibility screenplay, the computer suddenly changed her entire script to hieroglyphs.

Thompson said she panicked and, in her dressing gown, called a taxi to actor Stephen Fry and demanded that he help her. It took him eight hours before the computer returned the script.

“And it came out in one long sentence,” Thompson said, joking that the computer had “done it on purpose.”

Thompson has previously advocated for the future of creativity in the film industry and insisted that filmmakers need to focus on telling “authentic” stories by focusing on the emotion and honesty in a story.

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“When I hear people talk about content, it makes me feel like the stuffing inside a sofa or cushion,” the actor said in 2023. “Just kind of some stuff. It's just rude actually...it's just a rude word for creative people.”

Thompson, who is currently starring in Apple TV crime series Down Cemetery Road, isn’t alone with her disgust in AI. Director Guillermo Del Toro recently said that he would “rather die” than use the technology in his films.