If you’ve been online in the past few days, you may have seen a lot of negativity aimed towards Ashton Kutcher.
During a recent conversation with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt in Los Angeles, Ashton talked about the benefits of Sora, OpenAI’s generative text-to-video tool, and how it might change the film and TV industry landscape in years to come.
Ashton — who was once the highest-paid TV actor in Hollywood — discussed how the tool might make film and TV production cheaper by replicating footage that, today, relies on the work of professional teams of people.
Praising the tool and its potential to simplify filmmaking, Ashton predicted that creatives will one day “be able to render a whole movie” using the software.
If you keep up to date with the media industry, you’ll know AI has been a huge talking point in recent years — not only for how it may advance production but also for how it will reduce work opportunities for creatives.
Notably, Tyler Perry said earlier this year that he isn’t sure how the film and TV industry will “survive” because of how quickly Sora is advancing.
So, with all this in mind, it’s not hard to understand why people are incredibly upset that someone like Ashton — who owes much of his success to the work and expertise of below-the-line crew members — has advocated so strongly for the use of AI in Hollywood.
Writer Caitie Delaney was among those to call out Ashton’s comments on X, arguing that reducing jobs for creatives would totally diminish the “buzz” and appeal of TV and film.
Others took issue with the fact that Ashton is a major investor in AI, and, therefore, would profit from Hollywood’s shift towards technology.
Plenty of people also raised the hypocrisy of it all, highlighting that AI tools like Sora are being developed to diminish the value of people — like Ashton himself — who have worked and dream of working in the arts.
Amid the backlash, Ashton appears to have defended his stance. Yesterday, he wrote on X that he doesn’t “think AI will replace the film industry or creative arts” but believes it would be “catastrophic” to act like “it doesn’t exist.”
Since finding success in tech investments, Ashton — whose reported net worth is $200 million — says he can afford to be picky about what acting opportunities he chooses to pursue.
There you have it! We’ll keep you posted on any updates.