Cate Blanchett told the BBC she was “deeply concerned” about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI).
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, the Australian actress said: “I’m looking at these robots and self-driving cars and I don’t really know what that’s going to do to anyone.”
Blanchett, 55, was promoting her new film “Rumors,” an apocalyptic comedy about a group of world leaders trapped in a forest.
“Compared to what’s going on in the world, our film looks like a nice little documentary,” she said.
Asked if she was worried about the impact AI would have on her job, she said she was “not really worried” about it, and more worried about how it would affect “the average person.” answered.
“I’m worried about us as a species. It’s a much bigger issue.”
She added that the threat of AI is “very real” as “anyone can be completely replaced.”
“Forget about whether they’re actors or not. Just record your voice for three or four seconds and they’ll be able to recreate your voice.”
The actress, who won two Oscars for “The Aviator” and “Blue Jasmine,” said she views advances in AI as “an experiment for its own sake.”
“From one side, it’s creative, but it’s also incredibly destructive. Of course, that’s the flip side.”
In Rumors, Blanchett plays the German Chancellor who hosts a G7 summit that brings together other world leaders.
She stated that the political characters are not based on real politicians and “we purposely moved away from that because that’s what the audience brings to it.”
The film’s director, Guy Maddin, says that he purposefully does not reveal the ideology or allegory of the characters because “the message or lesson that the audience will find themselves in as they make sense of the film.” This is because there is an attempt to project a that”.
Maddin explained that he began creating the characters “out of sheer contempt,” but as the film progressed and more ridiculous things started happening, “little by little you started to sympathize with them.”
“They weren’t politicians for very long. The structures that made them world leaders evaporated incredibly quickly,” Blanchett told the BBC.
“What you’re witnessing is that they don’t know who they are, and that’s part of the artificial way that they have little to do with the real world.
“People say actors are infantilized and coddled, but there’s something about politicians being infantilized and coddled by the system.”
