“I don’t feel like anyone can replace me,” Chris Pratt told Variety on Tuesday night at the New York premiere of “Mercy.” He added that the panic surrounding synthetic AI performers like Tilly Norwood is “complete bullshit.”
“I don’t think there’s going to be an AI to replace me,” Pratt said. “I heard about Tilly Norwood and I think it’s all bullshit. I’ve never seen her in a movie. I don’t know who this woman is. It’s all fake until it’s something.”
Pratt went on to say that there are a wide range of uses for AI that don’t threaten human jobs, and that the emerging technology can be “a great tool in the right hands.” He thought it was “inevitable disruption to the industry,” but had no doubt that “great filmmakers” would continue to make “great movies.”
He added, “I don’t think we’re going to replace the human spirit with directors, writers, actors, singers, or anything that requires human longing, suffering, and vision in art.”
Tilly Norwood is a synthetic AI performer created by Dutch comedian Eline van der Velden. Last summer, after van der Velden presented her film at the Zurich Film Festival and claimed Tilly would soon sign a representation deal, there was an immediate backlash from across the entertainment industry. SAG-AFTRA said Tilly and other AI performers are similarly creating “problems by using stolen performances to put actors out of work, endanger performers’ livelihoods, and devalue human artistry.”
In response, Van der Velden defended Tilly, saying, “It is not a substitute for a human being, but a creative work, a work of art.”
Pratt isn’t the first Hollywood mogul to share his thoughts on AI in movies. In December, Leonardo DiCaprio said that AI lacks humanity and therefore can never be considered “real” art.
“It could be an empowering tool for young filmmakers to do things they’ve never seen before,” DiCaprio said. “I believe that anything that can truly be considered art must be created by humans.”
