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.
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00:00Well, I'd be psyched that I time-traveled.
00:02So, first off, I think the first thing I'd do is probably wouldn't watch Gattaca 2,
00:06but I don't know.
00:11It would probably offend me to my core.
00:14Ethan, thanks for joining me, chatting with Narcity. How are you?
00:16Yeah, doing great. Thanks for being here.
00:18Listen, I love the timing of this audio innovation series
00:21because obviously, you know, innovation is such a key thing
00:23that you guys are working through with the SAG AfterStrike right now.
00:26Especially AI, the genie's out of the bottle.
00:29So, how do you approach that idea of balancing human creativity with technology
00:34and especially this imitation of creativity?
00:36It's such an interesting question.
00:38I mean, each generation gets hit with new riddles, right?
00:42How we define progress, you know, is a really big question.
00:49I...
00:52You know, like I think a lot of people, there's two parts of my brain.
00:56I'm an optimist, which says to me that I don't really worry about AI
01:01because AI can't do anything new.
01:03All it can do is regurgitate what's been done.
01:06They can make the Beatles sing a Hank Williams song if they want,
01:10but they can't create the Beatles when the Beatles didn't exist.
01:14And what I'm trying to do my whole life is to do something new.
01:18And on the other level, I'm like, well,
01:22what do any of us do but regurgitate old ideas anyway, you know?
01:25So has anybody done anything new? I don't know.
01:28You can get kind of pessimistic about it.
01:32I believe that we respond to life and breath and each other
01:38and that there's a certain stunt to technology.
01:42You know, you can...
01:43How many times have you seen the White House blow up in a movie, right?
01:45It's not the same as really connecting to a performer
01:50and that I think what people really like to do is see actors, musicians, painters.
01:56They like to see people who are alive today.
01:58They like to feel their breath in the frame.
02:01They like to see them on stage.
02:02They like to see them sing.
02:03And I don't really worry that much about what it's going to do to art.
02:09I worry about the commercialization and the materialism
02:14and the fact that all we seem to prioritize is making money.
02:19And, you know, the same thing that's happening in the arts.
02:21Well, what's going to happen when there's all the driverless cars and trucks?
02:24And what are those people going to do for a living?
02:26And what's it going to be when you don't need anybody to run a department store?
02:30You know, I mean, we're putting ourselves all out of work.
02:34You know, along those lines, you mentioned the stunt of it
02:36and like the living, breathing human.
02:38Let's say you and I jumped on a time machine.
02:40We go to a point where we're both long dead
02:42and there's a Gattaca 2 where they brought you back.
02:44How would you feel to see something like that?
02:46Well, I'd be psyched that I time traveled.
02:48So first off, I think the first thing I'd do is probably wouldn't watch Gattaca 2.
02:53But I don't know.
02:58It would probably offend me to my core.
03:02And I know what it's like when you see yourself misquoted in papers.
03:09I didn't say that. It's upsetting.
03:11I don't know exactly why it's upsetting.
03:14But it makes you not trust mankind.
03:18It makes you not trust reality.
03:21And so I do think these are really, really important questions to ask ourselves, you know.
03:29And the essential question is how to define progress.
03:33Because I'm not sure a lot of these things we're doing are helping.
03:35They're making somebody a lot of money, but I don't know if they're helping anybody.
03:39And it's about making sure it's fair too, right?
03:40Like if your likeness is involved, you should be involved too.
03:43I wish I had something smarter to say about AI.
03:45Because I've been in some rooms where people have really sophisticated conversations about it.
03:51I'm such a performer that I'm just not—my brain isn't equipped to engage in that conversation.
03:59But I do—it is worth talking about.
04:02Everyone's trying to figure it out, right? Nobody's got the answer.
04:04I know.
04:05It's time to re-screen 2001 and start thinking about old Hal.
04:09He wasn't a good guy.
04:11Well, thank you so much.
04:12Yeah, appreciate it, man.