Demi Moore was candid.
“AI is here,” Moore, a member of the jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, said at a press conference on Tuesday. “So fighting it means fighting something that is a battle that we lose. So I think finding ways that we can work with it is a more worthwhile path to take.”
Reaction on social media was swift and often vicious, with some commentators accusing Moore of selling out and others accusing him of failing to recognize the dangers AI poses to the creative community. But throughout the festival, there was plenty of evidence that AI isn’t just here, it’s already reshaping the way movies are made.
At the Cannes market, there were several films that not only acknowledged the use of AI, but also used it as a selling point. These include “Critters,” an animated family film produced by Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios that touts “human-driven but AI-assisted,” “Paradise Lost,” adapted from a John Milton poem by “Pulp Fiction” co-writer Roger Avery, and “Bitcoin,” a thriller based on “The Bourne Identity” writer Doug Liman starring Gal Gadot, Casey Affleck and Pete. Davidson. Bitcoin is produced by Ryan Kavanaugh, the controversial founder of Relative Media. While working on the Croisette, he has developed an interest in Acme AI & FX, a new business that promises to help filmmakers with “AI-assisted workflows” and “real-time image development.”
“A year ago, some people were using AI, but they were embarrassed to admit it,” says one veteran sales agent. “This year, they’re not even hiding it.”
The reaction was dramatically different from past Cannes, Sundance, and other major film festivals where AI was generally positioned as an agent of disruption. There are still concerns that AI will replace movie actors (Tilly Norwood, anyone?), and it’s almost certain that it will lead to fewer jobs in everything from animation to visual effects to script reading (these reductions are already happening). But there seems to be a growing sense that the best bet is to find ways to protect copyrighted material and ensure that actors are compensated for the likenesses and voices used by technology companies. For example, Matthew McConaughey had his legal team apply for eight trademarks, which the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved in 2025.
“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is used, it is because I have approved and approved it,” McConaughey said in a statement. “We want to create clear lines of ownership with consent and attribution in the world of AI.”
At a flurry of industry events, executives, producers and creative talent amplified Moore’s message that “resistance is futile.” Many saw an opportunity for AI to help bring movies to the screen that were considered too expensive or too risky.
“As a producer, I look at it as a tool just like any other tool,” Laura Lewis, CEO and founder of Rebel Media, said Friday during a panel discussion on the U.S. movie business. “If it makes us more efficient and allows us to make things that we couldn’t make because we couldn’t cut the budget, then that helps.”
On the same panel, Bleecker Street head Kent Sanderson argued that AI will not only lower the cost of making movies; Users will be able to challenge major studios with their games.
“There’s no getting around the fact that it’s going to become part of our business,” Sanderson said, adding, “The cost of production will come down, and certainly within a few years you’ll be able to make something like a Marvel movie in your basement.”
But Sanderson thought the proliferation of the kind of loud, dumb, spectacle-driven entertainment that had dominated Hollywood might spark a creative revolution.
“It also means people may be looking for something else,” Sanderson argued. “Because if something is incredibly common and available, people tend to go in a different direction and look for something new. So for me, that might be a hidden opportunity for a real movie.”
Not everyone is equally optimistic about the potential for something positive to emerge from technological disruption. At the opening press conference, Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux warned of a future shaped by computational systems.
“We have to be cautious, but at the same time we have to understand it a little bit,” Frémaux said, adding, “One thing for sure when it comes to artificial intelligence is that we stand with the artists, the writers, the actors, the voice actors. We stand with everyone whose work may be adversely affected by artificial intelligence. We need laws for that. We need to control this.”
