Deep Water star Ben Affleck recently spoke at the Delivering Alpha 2024 investor summit about his predictions for the future of the movie industry in relation to the rise of artificial intelligence usage.
His words on the matter left people surprised at how well they were articulated, which led social media users to digging up a clip of the actor in 2003 predicting the rise of streaming services that we can’t live without today.
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Ben Affleck is one of the youngest ever Oscar winners
In 1998, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for their critically acclaimed movie Good Will Hunting, which they had written while living together.
Affleck is still the youngest to have ever received this award, winning it at only 25.
Good Will Hunting helped Affleck to the top
The movie allowed Affleck and Damon to receive better exposure, highlighting their multifaceted talents.
However, many were still surprised to realize that Affleck was highly aware of the happenings in the movie industry, and is able to clearly articulate his thoughts on the things that matter.
He recently spoke about AI
During the Delivering Alpha 2024 investor summit, Affleck was asked by CNBC about the possibility of Netflix producing a movie from “a bunch of actors that are completely recreated.”
The actor and filmmaker gave a lengthy response, ensuring that he spoke in depth about the matter.
Affleck doesn’t think AI will replace people in the industry
His response came, “A. That’s not possible now, B. Will it be possible in the future? Highly unlikely. C. The movies will be one of the last things, if everything gets replaced, to be replaced by AI.”
The actor added on the importance of humans on set, “AI can write you excellent imitative verse that sounds Elizabethan, it cannot write you Shakespeare.”
The filmmaker doesn’t think it’s all bad
The actor added that AI could have a positive impact on some facets of the industry.
He explained, “What AI is going to do is disintermediate the more laborious, less creative, and more costly aspects of filmmaking that will allow cost to be brought down.”
He recognizes the problems other sectors may face
While he doesn’t think AI will replace actors or writers anytime soon, Affleck still recognized that some other facets of the industry could be in danger.
He admitted, “I wouldn’t like to be in the visual effects business, they’re in trouble because what costs a lot of money is now going to cost a lot less. It’s going to hammer that space.”
Affleck’s words went viral online
In a post shared on X, a user stated their amused shock at how articulate and realistic Affleck’s words on the situation were.
The tweet has gone viral with tens of thousands of likes and reposts, as well as people agreeing with the poster.
Many users expressed their shock by his words
Some responded to the viral post in amazement with one person saying, “This actually is really amazing, I had no idea he had such a vocabulary.”
Another user joked, “I would be so mad if I directed as many good movies as Affleck has and people still thought I was stupid lol.”
This promoted the resurfacing of an old video
The viral clip prompted users to bring up another video of the actor speaking in 2003 about his predictions for the movie and music industries regarding streaming.
In the video, Affleck predicted that streaming services will take over the movie and music industries saying, “I think some annual subscription-based system is one that works.”
He spoke more about the paradigm in 2003
“You have the music business, a 3.4-billion-dollar-a-year business, which is largely about 1.7 million people in the country spending $200 a year. Those same people would spend $200 each year to have access to basically the entire library of existing music,” Affleck said.
If Affleck’s predictions 21 years ago turned out to be correct, it’s possible his views on the role of AI might too.
