I have to admit, I’ve always been a bit mystified by Ben Affleck, movie star. Not that he’s a bad actor by any means, but his performances tend to leave me a little underwhelmed, and I often find there’s something off-putting about his interviews.
That said, he is clearly no idiot, displaying probably more talent behind the camera than in front of it. While I don’t want to perpetuate the generally unfair stereotype of the stupid actor, I’ll admit I tend to be more impressed, in terms of intellect, by those who write and direct—both of which Affleck does very well.
(An almost complete digression here, but I have to work in that great quote by Mike Nichols, which I’m about 90% sure came from a William Goldman book. When asked if he had met any truly intelligent actors, he answered, “Anthony Perkins is brilliant, and Richard Burton has something.”)
Affleck is also a sharp businessman, all of which makes him a pretty good example of “smart establishment Hollywood.” Simply by virtue of who he is, his opinion on AI is of interest here, perhaps more so because it is more clear-eyed and insightful than that of easily 98% of the people who are paid to have opinions on the subject.
I should probably warn everyone that the video is sponsored by a gambling site, but I doubt the readership of this particular blog is their target market.
After this interview, Affleck faced some accusations of hypocrisy when it came out that he had quietly started an AI company, which he has since sold to Netflix for potentially a great deal of money (the deal is contingent on various metrics). Personally, I don’t see the issue here. His company appears to be focused solely on using generative AI as a post-production tool, focusing on areas like editing and visual effects. Two of the examples he gave were background replacements and incorrect lighting, all perfectly legitimate uses of the technology.
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