Nicolas Cage has joined the ranks of filmmakers and actors in condemning the use of AI in film after his cameo in DC's The Flash sparked outrage from Tim Burton.
Burton, who saw Cage's largely CGI-driven cameo as Superman as a misappropriation of their work on the never-released 1998 production Superman Lives, previously told the British Film Institute that he's in "quiet revolt" against AI's convergence with film.
Cage is largely in agreement: "I get where Tim's coming from. I know what he means," he told Yahoo this week. "I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art … and appropriating them. I get it. I mean, I'm with him in that regard. AI is a nightmare to me. It's inhumane. You can't get more inhumane than artificial intelligence."
He was, however, quick to clarify that he was on set to film his cameo in The Flash, and doesn't view it as AI, but rather heavy CGI.
"When I went to the picture, it was me fighting a giant spider. I did not do that. That was not what I did," he said. "I don't think it was [created by] AI. I know Tim is upset about AI, as I am. It was CGI, okay, so that they could de-age me, and I'm fighting a spider. I didn't do any of that, so I don't know what happened there.
"But I don't think it [was] AI," he continued. "I just think that they did something with it, and again, it's out of my control. I literally went to shoot a scene for maybe an hour in the suit, looking at the destruction of a universe and trying to convey the feelings of loss and sadness and terror in my eyes. That's all I did."
See the scene in question for yourself below.
Burton, who saw Cage's largely CGI-driven cameo as Superman as a misappropriation of their work on the never-released 1998 production Superman Lives, previously told the British Film Institute that he's in "quiet revolt" against AI's convergence with film.
Cage is largely in agreement: "I get where Tim's coming from. I know what he means," he told Yahoo this week. "I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art … and appropriating them. I get it. I mean, I'm with him in that regard. AI is a nightmare to me. It's inhumane. You can't get more inhumane than artificial intelligence."
He was, however, quick to clarify that he was on set to film his cameo in The Flash, and doesn't view it as AI, but rather heavy CGI.
"When I went to the picture, it was me fighting a giant spider. I did not do that. That was not what I did," he said. "I don't think it was [created by] AI. I know Tim is upset about AI, as I am. It was CGI, okay, so that they could de-age me, and I'm fighting a spider. I didn't do any of that, so I don't know what happened there.
"But I don't think it [was] AI," he continued. "I just think that they did something with it, and again, it's out of my control. I literally went to shoot a scene for maybe an hour in the suit, looking at the destruction of a universe and trying to convey the feelings of loss and sadness and terror in my eyes. That's all I did."
See the scene in question for yourself below.