Ethan Hawke On Digital Zombies And The One Thing AI Can't Do
Actor and "Wildcat" director Ethan Hawke sat down with Narcity’s Josh Elliott to talk all things A.I., as part of a chat for the Audi Innovation Series during TIFF 2023. Hawke told us how he feels about the technology’s progress and when actors are brought back from the dead.
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:00 Well, I'd be psyched that I time traveled.
00:02 So, first off, I think the first thing I'd do is probably wouldn't watch Gattaca 2,
00:06 but I don't know.
00:10 It would probably offend me to my core.
00:14 Ethan, thanks for joining me, chatting with Narcity. How are you?
00:16 Yeah, doing great. Thanks for being here.
00:18 Listen, I love the timing of this audio innovation series,
00:21 because obviously, you know, innovation is such a key thing that you guys
00:24 are working through with the SANG AfterStrike right now.
00:26 Especially AI, the genie's out of the bottle.
00:29 So how do you approach that idea of balancing human creativity with technology,
00:34 and especially this imitation of creativity?
00:36 It's such an interesting question.
00:38 I mean, each generation gets hit with new riddles, right?
00:42 How we define progress, you know, is a really big question.
00:49 I...
00:52 You know, like I think a lot of people, there's two parts of my brain.
00:56 One is an optimist, which says to me that I don't really worry about AI,
01:01 because AI can't do anything new.
01:03 All it can do is regurgitate what's been done.
01:06 They can make the Beatles sing a Hank Williams song if they want,
01:10 but they can't create the Beatles when the Beatles didn't exist.
01:14 And what I'm trying to do my whole life is to do something new.
01:18 And on the other level, I'm like, well,
01:22 what do any of us do but regurgitate old ideas anyway, you know?
01:25 So has anybody done anything new? I don't know.
01:28 You can get kind of pessimistic about it.
01:32 I believe that we respond to life and breath and each other,
01:38 and that there's a certain stunt to technology.
01:41 You know, you can--
01:43 How many times have you seen the White House blow up in a movie, right?
01:45 It's not the same as really connecting to a performer,
01:50 and that I think what people really like to do is see actors, musicians, painters.
01:56 They like to see people who are alive today.
01:58 They like to feel their breath in the frame.
02:01 They like to see them on stage. They like to see them sing.
02:03 And I don't really worry that much about what it's going to do to art.
02:09 I worry about the commercialization and the materialism
02:14 and the fact that all we seem to prioritize is making money.
02:19 And, you know, the same thing that's happening in the arts as well.
02:22 What's going to happen when there's all the driverless cars and trucks?
02:25 And what are those people going to do for a living?
02:27 And what's it going to be when you don't need anybody to run a department store?
02:31 You know what I mean? We're putting ourselves all out of work.
02:35 You know, along those lines, you mentioned the stunt of it
02:37 and, like, the living, breathing human.
02:39 Let's say you and I jump in a time machine.
02:40 We go to a point where we're both long dead,
02:42 and there's a Gattaca 2 where they brought you back.
02:45 How would you feel to see something like that?
02:47 I'd be psyched that I time traveled.
02:49 So first off, I think the first thing I'd do is probably wouldn't watch Gattaca 2.
02:53 But I don't know.
02:58 It would probably offend me to my core.
03:02 And I know what it's like when you see yourself misquoted in papers.
03:09 I didn't say that. It's upsetting.
03:11 I don't know exactly why it's upsetting,
03:14 but it makes you not trust mankind.
03:18 It makes you not trust reality.
03:21 And so I do think these are really, really important questions to ask ourselves, you know?
03:29 And the essential question is how to define progress,
03:33 because I'm not sure a lot of these things we're doing are helping.
03:35 They're making somebody a lot of money, but I don't know if they're helping anybody.
03:39 And it's about making sure it's fair, too, right?
03:40 Like, if your likeness is involved, you should be involved, too.
03:43 I wish I had something smarter to say about AI,
03:45 because I've been in some rooms where people have really sophisticated conversations about it.
03:51 I'm such a performer that I'm just not--
03:55 my brain isn't equipped to engage in that conversation,
03:59 but I do--it is worth talking about.
04:02 Everyone's trying to figure it out, right? Nobody's got the answer.
04:04 I know.
04:05 Keep this time to re-screen 2001 and start thinking about old Hal.
04:09 He wasn't a good guy.
04:11 Well, thank you so much.
04:13 Yeah, appreciate it, man.
04:14 (upbeat music)