The team behind The Simpsons isn’t laughing when it comes to AI – and they’re making it clear that Springfield should stay human.
At the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and longtime collaborators took the stage to address an increasingly relevant question: could artificial intelligence one day run the longest-running animated series of all time?
Their answer? A resounding “no” – or at least, not anytime soon.
“AI Will Never Have A Sense Of Humour”
During a panel discussion, Simpsons writer and executive producer Matt Selman made it clear where he stands:
“The Simpsons will be the last show to embrace AI, not the first.”
He also revealed that the writers’ room has a running group chat dedicated to laughing at the bizarre – and often inaccurate – ways AI tools like ChatGPT have attempted to describe the series.
“AI will confidently refer to this episode – that doesn’t exist. It will make up titles, will make up guest stars, and will say actors play people who didn’t appear,”
Selman said, highlighting the persistent inaccuracies in AI-generated content.
“It’s very intriguing. However, my gut feeling is AI will never have a sense of humour. So I think humans are needed.”
Groening chimed in with his signature dry wit: “Well, AI stands for artificial idiocy.”
Could AI Ever Actually Run The Simpsons?
With AI tools now able to mimic voices and generate scripts, some fans wonder if The Simpsons could technically run forever even without its original cast or writers.
Technically, AI could produce many of the needed assets and even animate scenes. But creators and many fans remain skeptical.
A recent episode even played with that idea. Titled “Bart’s Birthday” and jokingly billed on-screen as The Simpsons Series Finale, the story saw a fictional AI – Hack-GPT – tasked with writing the show's last episode. It was a tongue-in-cheek response to fan speculation about how the series might eventually end, showing that The Simpsons is more than aware of the AI elephant in the writers’ room.
While some fans ultimately see AI as a way to preserve the show if key voice actors retire or pass away, others argue that replacing human writers and performers would strip the show of its soul.
That’s why a growing number of fans believe the show – already running more than long enough – should end with dignity before it ever needs to rely on automated writing.
The Real Problem: AI Doesn’t Fit The Animation Pipeline
For those working behind the scenes, the issue isn't just about morals – it’s about logistics. David Silverman, who directed The Simpsons Movie and many classic episodes, pointed out the incompatibility of AI with the show’s complex production process.
“The production pipeline animation doesn’t fit [with AI]. There’s no way to actually utilise it. All it will do is confuse things,”
he told Screen Daily.
That pipeline – scriptwriting, storyboarding, character design, key animation, in-betweens, coloring, editing – is highly structured and refined over decades.
AI-generated visuals often lack the consistency and precision needed to animate a character like Homer Simpson the same way in every frame. One moment he might have off-model eyes; the next, a distorted jawline.
Unlike human animators, AI models often don’t allow for precise revisions, which is a dealbreaker for production teams needing control.
For professional animators, correcting these errors can create more work, not less.
There are also legal landmines. AI art and writing tools are often trained on copyrighted material, raising red flags around intellectual property ownership.
For a show as deeply branded and widely merchandised as The Simpsons, using AI-generated assets could slow production rather than speed it up, simply due to legal vetting.
And finally, there’s the human element: collaboration. Animation depends on constant human feedback.
Writers tweak jokes, directors guide emotional beats, and animators fine-tune physical comedy. AI can disrupt this creative chain by producing material no one fully understands.
So now it's up for you to decide: What’s worse: an AI-run Simpsons or no Simpsons at all?