Samuel L. Jackson thinks AI in acting “could be something to worry about”
Actor and pop culture icon Samuel L. Jackson has shared his thoughts on the possibility of the world of AI infiltrating the art of acting in a new interview.
Echoing the thoughts of Christopher Nolan, who this week suggested the press were now only worried about AI as it affected their jobs, Jackson seemed shocked that it has taken so long for the world to catch up with his fears over artificial intelligence.
“People just started worrying about that? I asked about that a long time ago,” Jackson told Rolling Stone while discussing his first time being “scanned” while working on set. “The first time I got scanned for George Lucas, I was like, ‘What’s this for?’”
“George and I are good friends,” he continued, “so we kind of had a laugh about it because I thought he was doing it because he had all those old guys in Episode I, and if something happened to them, he still wanted to put them in the movie”.
Whether this “scanning” was used in conjunction with AI specifically or, more simply, CGI was not made clear. However, the practice of using Jackson’s likeness does not sit comfortably with the veteran actor. It’s something he has experienced most frequently while working with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Ever since I’ve been in the Marvel Universe, every time you change costumes in a Marvel movie, they scan you,” he said. “Ever since I did Captain Marvel, and they did the Lola project where they de-aged me and everything else, it’s like, ‘Well, I guess they can do this anytime they want to do it if they really want to’”.
While suggesting AI “could be something to worry about” for actors in the future, Jackson did share a handy tip he uses any time he comes across language in a contract which might suggest his face can be used after he dies: “Future actors should do what I always do when I get a contract, and it has the words ‘in perpetuity’ and ‘known and unknown’ on it: I cross that shit out. It’s my way of saying, ‘No, I do not approve of this'”.
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