Ben Affleck Says AI Can’t Compete With Humans and Could Provide Extra Revenue

Artificial intelligence has been terrorizing the creative industries for the last couple of years leaving many bitter and worried about where it’s all heading. But Ben Affleck has a couple of interesting predictions that may assuage fears.

Speaking on CNBC Television, the Hollywood actor and writer says that AI is a “cross-pollinator” rather than a creator. Adding that AI will lower the creative barrier by eliminating the technical challenges of certain aspects of moviemaking and allow costs to be brought down.

“It will make it easier for the people who want to make Good Will Hunting to go out and make it,” says Affleck of the breakout movie he co-wrote with Matt Damon.

The Gone Girl actor compares AI to a “craftsman” who can work but says AI is not an artist because it doesn’t know when to stop.

“And I think knowing when to stop is going to be a very difficult thing for AI tools to learn because it’s taste,” he says. “And also lack of consistency, lack of controls, lack of quality.”

Affleck says AI will be handy to fix mistakes or make tweaks to the background or small details. But insists it won’t replace human beings.

Additional Revenue Stream

Speaking onstage, Affleck suggests that AI will help TV producers make more shows and that consumers could even ask for their own individualized episodes of their favorite shows such as Succession.

Affleck says his hope for AI is that it will become an “additional revenue stream” that will replace lost DVD sales.

However, it’s not all roses: Affleck says the visual effects business could be in trouble because of AI.

Affleck is a movie aficionado who is also a self-confessed camera geek. Earlier this year, he appeared in a documentary with then-wife Jennifer Lopez in which there is a scene where he waxes lyrical about “primes and ultra-primes” while scouring a camera truck.