Hollywood

Keanu Reeves weighs in on deepfakes and AI: ‘That’s scary’

Neo does not want to live in a simulation.

Keanu Reeves weighed in on the rise of artificial intelligence and deepfakes, sharing that a jarring film edit prompted him to put a clause in his contracts that prohibit performance manipulation without his consent.

“I don’t mind if someone takes a blink out during an edit. But early on, in the early 2000s, or it might have been the ’90s, I had a performance changed,” Reeves recalled in an interview with Wired published Tuesday. “They added a tear to my face, and I was just like, ‘Huh?!’ It was like, ‘I don’t even have to be here.'”

Reeves didn’t specify which performance was altered, but said that he finds deepfakes — a form of AI in which a person or existing image is replaced with another person’s likeness — “scary.”

“What’s frustrating about that is you lose your agency,” the Matrix star said. “When you give a performance in a film, you know you’re going to be edited, but you’re participating in that. If you go into deepfake land, it has none of your points of view. That’s scary. It’s going to be interesting to see how humans deal with these technologies.”

Did The Matrix foretell the here and now? Reeves certainly hopes not.

“I was trying to explain the plot of The Matrix to this 15-year-old once, and that the character I played was really fighting for what was real,” he said. “And this young person was just like, ‘Who cares if it’s real?’ People are growing up with these tools: We’re listening to music already that’s made by AI in the style of Nirvana, there’s NFT digital art.”

He continued, “It’s cool, like, ‘Look what the cute machines can make!’ But there’s a corporatocracy behind it that’s looking to control those things. Culturally, socially, we’re gonna be confronted by the value of real, or the nonvalue. And then what’s going to be pushed on us? What’s going to be presented to us?”

Keanu Reeves as Neo in 1999’s ‘The Matrix’ | CREDIT: EVERETT COLLECTION

Don’t expect deepfakes in John Wick: Chapter 4, which sees Reeves reprise his role as the titular hitman in the franchise sequel directed once again by Chad Stahelski, Reeves’ Matrix stuntman. Out March 24, the film will follow Reeves’ hitman as he uncovers a path to defeating the High Table, the council of crime lords who govern the underworld’s most powerful criminal entities.

However, Wick must first face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe.

“We went to five different countries, we went all over the world, and hopefully it’s a nice culmination of the first three movies in the franchise, bringing it all to a pinnacle,” Stahelski told EW of the film last year. “I think we’ve done some fresh new ideas in it, and I think we’ve driven the story to a place that will be satisfying and I think subversive to what people are used to.”

T N

Related Posts

No Hard Feelings: Jennifer Lawrence gets foul-mouthed in the new trailer for the raunchy comedy.

Jennifer Lawrence takes on a lighter-hearted fare from the writer and director of Good Boys and plays with conventions once again. Late last year, Jennifer Lawrence had returned to her…

Margot Robbie arrives at Jimmy Kimmel Live! flaunting her legs in a polka dot mini dress, albeit with a plaster on her knee.

She’s set to play a real-life Barbie in a new film directed by Greta Gerwig. And Margot Robbie was all dolled up as she arrived at the studios of Jimmy Kimmel Live!…

Zendaya slays the red carpet at the 2023 NAACP Image Awards with two jaw-dropping outfits, featuring a vintage Versace dress and a daring white co-ord that showcase her fashion prowess.

At the 2023 NAACP Image Awards held in Downtown Los Angeles, Zendaya made a lasting impression with two unforgettable looks that turned heads and showcased her impeccable fashion sense….

Leonardo DiCaprio, 48, and Martin Scorsese, 80, are dapper in sleek suits as they hang out at the Cannes Film Festival… after their new movie received a nine-minute ovation

Leonardo DiCaprio and renowned filmmaker, Martin Scorsese, dressed to impress as they attended the glitzy Air Mail Party during the 76th Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday. The Apple TV+ film, Killers Of The…

“This is a person that young girls will be looking up to”: Jennifer Lawrence Refused to Lose Weight for $2.9B Franchise to Set Body Positivity for Women.

Actress Jennifer Lawrence has been a part of the entertainment industry for a long time now. The actress got her first minor role in the TV pilot Company Town (2006)….

Margot Robbie has added “rollerskate dance” to her repertoire of athletic prowess.

Margot Robbi’s new movie Barbie is basically all we’ve been talking about since it was announced, and she’s just got us even more excited in her interview with Vogue US….