Nicolas Cage Is Terrified Of AI And He’s Right
The use of AI and machine learning models has revolutionized basically every facet of human life, and that’s particularly true in the entertainment sphere, where AI is used for anything from production to mimicking different actors and their voices to de-aging them for particular roles. Actor Nicolas Cage, however, wants none of that, as he’s terrified of having his body stolen by AI.
Nicolas Cage Is Defending His Legacy
Nicolas Cage further revealed concerns that the scans of his likeness could be further manipulated by AI technologies, stating that whoever’s behind the AI could potentially steal his body and do whatever they want with the digital copy of the actor’s likeness.
We’ve seen the rise of deep fakes and the damaging effects they have on people’s lives, so it’s not like Cage has nothing to worry about. In fact, we should all be a little concerned about AI; it’s not like it’s going to wage war on us any time soon, but the unethical use of such technologies could have devastating real-life implications.
“It is really scary. And it makes me wonder, you know, where will the truth of the artists end up? Is it going to be replaced? Is it going to be transmogrified? Where’s the heartbeat going to be? I mean, what are you going to do with my body and my face when I’m dead? I don’t want you to do anything with it,” said Cage.
Scanned For Spider-Man
It’s not like AI is suddenly going to build itself a T-800 replica and go out into the world to hunt down Nicolas Cage. Nicolas Cage’s AI comments regarding a full-body scan he had to undergo for the upcoming Spider-Man Noir series, in which he reprises his role from the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, are well-founded. This is especially true after Disney was “caught” making full-body scans of actors for the purpose of using their likenesses in production.
Production Companies Really Want To Use AI
And he’s not the only one. One of the main points of Hollywood’s labor disputes last year, apart from pay and streamers not paying royalties to actors, was the use of AI technologies during production—mainly using full-body scans to create the actors’ likenesses, which could be then used to completely replace actors.
Though most production companies defended their action by saying that the scans are for the purpose of filming dangerous scenes, even stunt workers and body doubles need work, so it’s safe to say that Nicolas Cage’s opinion on AI isn’t unfounded.
Bringing The Dead Back To Life
That’s particularly true now when production and AI companies started “reviving” late stars, such as Judy Garland, Burt Reynolds, Laurence Olivier, and James Dean, through the use of AI technologies. All of these aforementioned actors are the ones Nicolas Cage publicly shared admiration of, and they all have two things in common: they belong to the Golden Age of cinema, and they’ve been recently resurrected by ElevenLabs, an AI audio company.
Nicolas Cage Is Sticking By His Belief
Admittedly, the estates of the aforementioned late actors provided legal permissions to ElevenLabs to create vocal models and likenesses to narrate the Reader App, which allows the app’s users to listen to some of the greatest movie stars read books, articles, and essays. Actor Nicolas Cage openly stated that he doesn’t want technology doing things with his body and his face once he’s deceased, further underlying that he doesn’t want anyone to do anything with them. Does this mean that all the potential permissions have been denied?
This is really sad, especially for those who find the Drive Angry star’s voice calming and soporific, and it would be really sad if we had to resort to AI to hear Nicolas Cage read children’s tales.
Source: The New Yorker
