Nicolas Cage calls artificial intelligence ‘inhumane’ and a ‘nightmare’

Nicolas Cage slams artificial intelligence in the film industry, calling it ‘evil’.

During an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, the iconic actor spoke of his appearance in The Flash.

The actor revealed that the final product looked nothing like what he had filmed, prompting a discussion around the ‘misappropriation’ of Tim Burton's Bruce Wayne in the superhero flick alongside controversial actor Ezra Miller.

“I know Tim [Burton[ is upset about AI, as I am. It was CGI, OK, so that they could de-age me, and I’m fighting a spider. I didn’t do any of that, so I don’t know what happened there. … But I get where Tim's coming from,” he said.

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“I know what he means. I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art … and appropriating them. I get it. I mean, I’m with him in that regard.”

He then proceeded to call the use of AI in movies ‘inhumane’.

“AI is a nightmare to me,” Cage said.

“It’s inhumane. You can’t get more inhumane than artificial intelligence … I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art … and appropriating [it].”

Earlier this year, when the SAG-AFTRA strike kicked off in July, union members said they had dismissed the offer tabled by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to use AI to replicate the likeness of background actors.

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SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said the technology would be ‘groundbreaking’ but not in a good way.

“They proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day's pay, and their companies should own that scan – their image, their likeness – and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want, with no consent and no compensation,” he said, according to the outlet.

While the strike ended on September 27, according to the union, they still need to resolve issues regarding AI and digital recreation by Hollywood studios.

Reuters reported last week that the union presented a proposal over the use of AI to AMPTP, which they are currently reviewing.

SAG-AFTRA said they met with the AMPTP ‘for more than three hours this afternoon and evening to present and review our revised proposal’.

"We continue to await the AMPTP's response to our comprehensive counter proposal package which we gave them on Saturday, addressing outstanding issues," SAG-AFTRA said in a statement, as per the outlet.