James Woods warns AI could be the 'end of human actors' in Hollywood
Oscar-nominated actor James Woods delivered a stark warning about artificial intelligence in Hollywood, saying it is not a passing fad but a force that could someday spell the end of human actors.
"AI is the end of human actors. I'm adamant about this," Woods said Sunday on "One Nation with Brian Kilmeade."
"People say, 'You're overreacting'… when the silent [movies] went to talkies. People said, 'Oh it's a fad.' When television came in, 'It won't replace movies.'"
He argued that film companies will look to cut red tape where possible, skipping actors' agents, entourages, lucrative contracts and more in favor of AI-generated replacements, but there are a few speed bumps hindering the process.
"It's not going to work [right now] because we have movie stars we like," he said.
"We love brilliant actors like Brad Pitt, we love Meryl Streep, all these great actors because we grew up with them, but when the next generation grows up with a computer-generated model, they will be as realistic as people."
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Woods cited Moore's Law — the longstanding observation that computing power tends to double roughly every 18 months — as evidence that such realism is approaching faster than many expect.
He argued that such rapid advances would enable filmmakers to churn out content 24 hours a day at a cheaper price.
"When Steven Spielberg did the first ‘Jurassic Park,’ people said, 'This is amazing… How can he have done it?' He goes, ‘In five years, 14-year-old kids will be doing this on their Macintosh.’ And he was right.
"Maybe it was a couple years more or a couple of years less, but it's astonishing how quickly it's changing."