Ben Affleck explains why it's 'highly unlikely' AI will destroy film, claims it may even enhance the industry
"AI can write you excellent imitative verse that sounds Elizabethan. It cannot write you Shakespeare."
Ben Affleck is quieting the doomsayers who believe that AI is years away from destroying the film industry.
While speaking on a panel at CNBC's Delivering Alpha investor summit, the Argo director unpacked the limitations of generative AI — and proclaimed his belief that "movies will be one of the last things, if everything gets replaced, to be replaced by AI."
Asked if he worries about artificial intelligence being used to create movies from scratch, Affleck replied, "That's not possible now. Will it be possible in the future? Highly unlikely."
He went on to argue that as the technology currently stands, it is nowhere near capable of producing quality art on its own. "AI can write you excellent imitative verse that sounds Elizabethan. It cannot write you Shakespeare," Affleck said. "The function of having two actors, or three or four actors, in a room and the taste to discern and construct that is something that currently entirely alludes AI’s capability and I think will for a meaningful period of time."
The actor and filmmaker, who co-owns the production company Artists Equity with Matt Damon, went on to explain how he believes AI will actually factor into the future of moviemaking. As Affleck sees it, the technology has the potential to affect the "more laborious, less creative, and more costly aspects of filmmaking," by bringing costs down which will in turn lower the barrier to entry and "allow more voices to be heard."
"AI is a craftsman at best. Craftsmen can learn to make Stickley Furniture by sitting down next to somebody and seeing what their technique is and imitating," he continued. "They’re just cross-pollinating things that exist. Nothing new is created. Not yet."
He added, "Craftsman is knowing how to work. Art is knowing when to stop. And I think knowing when to stop is going to be a very difficult thing for AI to learn because it's [about] taste, lack of consistency, lack of controls, lack of quality.”
That said, Affleck did point to one area of the industry where cost-cutting will certainly impact real people and their jobs.
"I wouldn't like to be in the visual effects business: they're in trouble," Affleck admitted. "Because what cost a lot of money is now gonna cost a lot less. It is gonna hammer that space and it already is."
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He continued, "But it's not gonna replace human beings making films. It may make your background more convincing, it can change the color of your shirt, it can fix mistakes you've made. It can make it so you might be able to get two seasons of House of the Dragon in a year instead of one."
However, Affleck argued, those changes should also lead to an increase in capability and demand, leading to more shows and films being created.
Related: Nicolas Cage admits he is 'terrified' of AI: 'What are you going to do with my face when I’m dead?'
AI has become a controversial topic amongst those in Hollywood. Guardrails against its implementation was one of the most divisive issues on the table when it came to settling the latest SAG-AFTRA contract after a 118 day strike. Several of Affleck's contemporaries have weighed in on the issue, including John Cusack, who slammed AI as studio greed and referred to its use as a "criminal enterprise," and Nicolas Cage, who warned fellow performers to be wary of contracts making use of employment-based digital replica, or EBDR, a type of generative AI created through a performer's physical participation.
"This technology wants to take your instrument. We are the instruments as film actors," Cage said at the Newport Beach Film Festival in October. "The studios want this so that they can change your face after you've already shot it — they can change your face, they can change your voice, they can change your line deliveries, they can change your body language, they can change your performance… Protect your instrument."
The conversation surrounding AI has also extended well beyond just actors. Earlier this year, the horror film Late Night with the Devil sparked a wave of criticism for its brief use of AI-generated illustrations in interstitial art throughout the film. Last year, Tim Burton joined a chorus of directors condemning the technology being used to recreate their signature style. Burton likened the practice to watching "a robot taking [his] humanity."
Watch Affleck address the subject in the clip above.