Ben Affleck says he is less worried about artificial intelligence in Hollywood than about its effect on children and education. He made the comments at Bloomberg's Screentime conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, September 30.
Concerns About Education
According to Bloomberg, Affleck pointed to a 30% rise in the number of A grades given out at colleges over the past three years and to concerns about students becoming dependent on the technology and using it responsibly.
His focus on schools and young people shifts the conversation away from the entertainment business and toward a wider social question. The worry he describes is not that the technology exists, but that those who grow up with it may rely on it before they have built the skills it can imitate. By raising the grading figure, he linked a general concern to something measurable, and he presented education as the area where he believes the most careful decisions will be needed.
His View of AI in Filmmaking
On the film industry, he told Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw that some of the dire predictions about AI are overblown. The Washington Times reports that he said he does not worry about Skynet
and that AI will help filmmakers rather than replace them.
“Skynet” is the artificial intelligence that turns against humanity in the Terminator films, and it has become common shorthand for fears of machines taking control. By saying he does not worry about it, Affleck was distancing himself from the most extreme predictions and describing AI as a set of tools that people direct. That position reflects an argument often made by supporters of the technology in creative industries: that it can reduce routine work and give filmmakers more time to concentrate on decisions that require human judgment.
Using AI on Animals
Affleck also confirmed that he used AI for a number of tasks on Animals, the Netflix thriller he directed and stars in, which premiered on October 9. Netflix acquired his artificial intelligence startup this year, and he joined the streamer as a senior adviser, the Washington Times reports.
Affleck is an experienced director, with credits that include Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo and Air, and Argo won the Oscar for best picture. His statement that he used AI on Animals therefore comes from a filmmaker with a long record of working without it, and it gives his remarks practical weight. The details reported so far describe the use only as a number of tasks, and no further breakdown has been given in the sources cited here.
His connection to Netflix also adds context to his comments. He is now a senior adviser at the company that acquired his startup and released his film, which places him close to both the technology and a major distributor.
The Wider Debate in Hollywood
The comments arrive as studios and unions continue to debate how AI should be used in film and television production.
That debate has been active since the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, when protections around artificial intelligence were among the central issues in negotiations. Unions have sought limits on how performances and writing can be used to train or generate material, while studios have looked for room to adopt new tools. Affleck’s remarks, delivered at a business-focused conference, add the voice of a working director and actor to a discussion that has so far been dominated by contract talks and policy statements.
Because his view sits between the two camps, welcoming the technology while acknowledging serious risks in other areas of life, it offers a different angle from the clearly opposed positions that are often presented. Whether the industry as a whole adopts that balance will depend on agreements between studios and unions, on how widely the tools are used on productions like Animals, and on how audiences respond to films made with their help.