Ethan Hawke On Digital Zombies And The One Thing AI Can't Do

Narcity USA

Actor and "Wildcat" director Ethan Hawke sat down with Narcity’s Josh Elliott to talk all things A.I., as part of a chat for the Audi Innovation Series during TIFF 2023. Hawke told us how he feels about the technology’s progress and when actors are brought back from the dead.

Transcript

00:00Well, I'd be psyched that I time travel.

00:01So first off, I think the first thing I do is probably wouldn't watch Gattaca 2,

00:06but I don't know.

00:11It would probably offend me to my core.

00:14Ethan, thanks for joining me, chatting with Narsity. How are you?

00:16Yeah, doing great. Thanks for being here.

00:18Listen, I love the timing of this audio innovation series

00:21because obviously, you know, innovation is such a key thing

00:23that you guys are working through with the saying AfterStrike right now,

00:26especially AI, the genie's out of the bottle.

00:28So how do you approach that idea of balancing human creativity with technology

00:33and especially this imitation of creativity?

00:35It's such an interesting question.

00:38I mean, each generation gets hit with new riddles, right?

00:41How we define progress, you know, is a really big question.

00:49I, you know, like I think a lot of people, there's two parts of my brain.

00:55There's the optimist which says to me that I don't really worry about AI

01:00because AI can't do anything new.

01:02All it can do is regurgitate what's been done.

01:05They can make the Beatles sing a Hank Williams song if they want,

01:09but they can't create the Beatles when the Beatles didn't exist.

01:13And what I'm trying to do my whole life is to do something new.

01:17And on the other level, I'm like, well, what do any of us do

01:22but regurgitate old ideas anyway, you know?

01:25So has anybody done anything new?

01:26I don't know.

01:27You can get kind of pessimistic about it.

01:30I believe that we respond to life and breath and each other

01:38and that there's a certain stunt to technology.

01:41You know, you can, how many times have you seen the White House blow up in a movie, right?

01:45It's not the same as really connecting to a performer

01:49and that I think what people really like to do is see actors, musicians, painters.

01:56They like to see people who are alive today.

01:58They like to feel their breath in the frame.

02:01They like to see them on stage.

02:02They like to see them sing.

02:03And I don't really worry that much about what it's going to do to art.

02:09I worry about the commercialization and the materialism

02:13and the fact that all we seem to prioritize is making money.

02:20And, you know, the same thing that's happening in the arts as well.

02:22What's going to happen when there's all the driverless cars and trucks

02:25and what are those people going to do for a living

02:27and what's it going to be when you don't need anybody to run a department store?

02:31When, you know, I mean, we're putting ourselves all out of work.

02:34You know, along those lines, you mentioned the stunt of it

02:37and like the living, breathing human.

02:38Let's say you and I jumped in a time machine.

02:40We go to a point where we're both long dead

02:42and there's a Gattaca 2 where they brought you back.

02:44How would you feel to see something like that?

02:46Well, I'd be psyched that I time traveled.

02:48So first off, like, I think the first thing I do is probably wouldn't watch Gattaca 2.

02:53But I don't know.

02:58It would probably offend me to my core.

03:00And I know what it's like when you see yourself misquoted in papers.

03:09I didn't say that.

03:09It's upsetting.

03:11I don't know exactly why it's upsetting.

03:13But it makes you not trust mankind.

03:18It makes you not trust reality.

03:21And so I do think these are really, really important questions to ask ourselves, you know.

03:29And the essential question is how to define progress.

03:32Because I'm not sure a lot of these things we're doing are helping.

03:35They're making somebody a lot of money, but I don't know if they're helping anybody.

03:38And it's about making sure it's fair too, right?

03:40Like, if your likeness is involved, you should be involved too.

03:42I wish I had something smarter to say about AI.

03:45Because I've been in some rooms where people have really sophisticated conversations about it.

03:51I'm such a performer that I'm just not.

03:55My brain isn't equipped to engage in that conversation.

03:59But I do.

04:00It is worth talking about.

04:02Everyone's trying to figure it out, right?

04:03Nobody's got the answer.

04:04I know.

04:05It's time to re-screen 2001 and start thinking about old Hal.

04:09He wasn't a good guy.

04:11Well, thank you so much.

04:12Yeah, appreciate it, man.

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