Tom Hanks Says Artificial Intelligence Could Make Actors Immortal on Film

The actor addressed how AI would inevitably affect actors’ contracts as they negotiate with studios and other entities over their likenesses as intellectual property.

Credit: Getty
Credit: Getty

Artificial intelligence could play a big role in the future of filmmaking, according to Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks. In an interview on “The Adam Buxton Podcast” released on May 12, Hanks said he recognized and appreciated the power of AI.

“We saw this coming. We saw that there was going to be this ability in order to take zeros and ones inside a computer and turn it into a face and a character,” the actor noted in the interview. “Now, that has only grown a billionfold since then and we see it everywhere.”

The actor also addressed how AI would inevitably affect actors’ contracts as they negotiate with studios and other entities over their likenesses as intellectual property. The looming threat of AI in Hollywood has already been a point of contention in the ongoing WGA writers strike. Among the many issues brought by the WGA, the union is asking film studios to put guardrails in place to protect writers from being replaced by AI or having their work used to train AI, per New York Times.

“I can tell you that there [are] discussions going on in all of the guilds, all of the agencies, and all of the legal firms in order to come up with the legal ramifications of my face and my voice – and everybody else’s – being our intellectual property,” Hanks explained to podcast host Adam Buxton.

The actor touched further in the interview on how his image could be used in films even after his death, saying, “Anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are, by way of AI or deep fake technology … I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it, but my performances can go on and on and on.”

According to People Magazine, Hanks and former co-star from “Forrest Gump” Robin Wright will be experimenting with new technology for an upcoming project together. Both will be made to look younger via a visual effect technique as they reunite with Robert Zemeckis (who directed “Gump”) for the upcoming film “Here,” which is set to hit theaters next year.