The film industry is about to face the wrath of artificial intelligence, and Matthew McConaughey thinks that actors need to get ready for it. Speaking at a CNN and Variety town hall at the University of Texas at Austin, the Oscar winner stated that soon actors will have to compete with AI actors in major awards.
The show saw the presence of McConaughey along with fellow actor Timothée Chalamet.
Responding to a student’s question, McConaughey said AI is not something artists can ignore. “It’s coming. "It's already here,” he said. He urged actors to protect their identity by trademarking their voice, likeness and personal brand.
“It’s damn sure going to infiltrate our category,” he added, questioning whether the Oscars might one day include awards such as Best AI Film or Best AI Actor.
McConaughey further explained this with the example of how the advent of technology could allow the recreation of actors in such a believable way that the public will be unaware of the difference. Actors, in his opinion, must “own themselves", and thus the industry must seek consent to use digital representations of them.
Chalamet agreed with the opinion that AI in Hollywood posed both opportunities and threats. He told the students that the younger generation will be the ones to bring artificial intelligence into the entertainment industry in a moralistic way.
“There’s a level of fatalism I feel,” Chalamet said, adding that AI could be as revolutionary as the move from silent films to talkies, or black and white to colour.