Photo Credit: NetflixBen Affleck joined Donald Trump‘s White House lunch with tech chiefs this week, yet he struck a much calmer note on artificial intelligence than the executives beside him, waving off Skynet-style nightmares and arguing that Hollywood has little to fear. Ben Affleck pushes back on AI doomsday fears Speaking at a Bloomberg Screentime event on AI and entertainment, the Oscar winner said the film business ranks among the sectors least likely to be replaced by the technology. His real worries are closer to home, starting with schools. Affleck, who founded the AI company InterPositive, flagged a 30% jump in the number of A’s handed out at colleges over three years. “I worry about learned helplessness. I worry about responsible use,” he said. Killer-machine scenarios do not keep him up at night. “I don’t worry about Skynet, and I don’t think that it’s going to take over this business in any meaningful way,” he said. He believes anxiety drops once creators actually use the tools. Filmmakers who gain control and understanding, Affleck said, stop seeing a menacing, abstract force and start seeing software. He likened it to earlier technological leaps in film and television, describing AI as “another form of computing that does tools.” Regular users also discover its limits, he added. The flaws and clumsy moments pile up until the technology feels ordinary. In his words, “It becomes a knowable thing.” Affleck’s optimism comes with a recent financial gain. Netflix acquired InterPositive this spring for $587 million, a figure confirmed after the deal. The company builds AI tools designed by and for filmmakers. Its team of fewer than 20 people moved to the streamer, and Affleck stayed on as an advisor. The actor and director also discussed Artist Equity, which he started in 2022 alongside Matt Damon and Redbird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale. The company wants to turn profit sharing from an occasional bonus into the core of its business model, helping workers earn reasonable returns as technology and audience habits shift (via Deadline). Source: https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/2200527-ben-affleck-skynet-ai-hollywood