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.
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00:00 Well, I'd be psyched that I time traveled.
00:02 So, first off, I think the first thing I'd do is probably wouldn't watch Gattaca 2,
00:06 but I don't know.
00:10 It would probably offend me to my core.
00:14 Ethan, thanks for joining me, chatting with Narcity. How are you?
00:16 Yeah, doing great. Thanks for being here.
00:18 Listen, I love the timing of this audio innovation series,
00:21 because obviously, you know, innovation is such a key thing that you guys
00:24 are working through with the SANG AfterStrike right now.
00:26 Especially AI, the genie's out of the bottle.
00:29 So how do you approach that idea of balancing human creativity with technology,
00:34 and especially this imitation of creativity?
00:36 It's such an interesting question.
00:38 I mean, each generation gets hit with new riddles, right?
00:42 How we define progress, you know, is a really big question.
00:49 I...
00:52 You know, like I think a lot of people, there's two parts of my brain.
00:56 One is an optimist, which says to me that I don't really worry about AI,
01:01 because AI can't do anything new.
01:03 All it can do is regurgitate what's been done.
01:06 They can make the Beatles sing a Hank Williams song if they want,
01:10 but they can't create the Beatles when the Beatles didn't exist.
01:14 And what I'm trying to do my whole life is to do something new.
01:18 And on the other level, I'm like, well,
01:22 what do any of us do but regurgitate old ideas anyway, you know?
01:25 So has anybody done anything new? I don't know.
01:28 You can get kind of pessimistic about it.
01:32 I believe that we respond to life and breath and each other,
01:38 and that there's a certain stunt to technology.
01:41 You know, you can--
01:43 How many times have you seen the White House blow up in a movie, right?
01:45 It's not the same as really connecting to a performer,
01:50 and that I think what people really like to do is see actors, musicians, painters.
01:56 They like to see people who are alive today.
01:58 They like to feel their breath in the frame.
02:01 They like to see them on stage. They like to see them sing.
02:03 And I don't really worry that much about what it's going to do to art.
02:09 I worry about the commercialization and the materialism
02:14 and the fact that all we seem to prioritize is making money.
02:19 And, you know, the same thing that's happening in the arts as well.
02:22 What's going to happen when there's all the driverless cars and trucks?
02:25 And what are those people going to do for a living?
02:27 And what's it going to be when you don't need anybody to run a department store?
02:31 You know what I mean? We're putting ourselves all out of work.
02:35 You know, along those lines, you mentioned the stunt of it
02:37 and, like, the living, breathing human.
02:39 Let's say you and I jump in a time machine.
02:40 We go to a point where we're both long dead,
02:42 and there's a Gattaca 2 where they brought you back.
02:45 How would you feel to see something like that?
02:47 I'd be psyched that I time traveled.
02:49 So first off, I think the first thing I'd do is probably wouldn't watch Gattaca 2.
02:53 But I don't know.
02:58 It would probably offend me to my core.
03:02 And I know what it's like when you see yourself misquoted in papers.
03:09 I didn't say that. It's upsetting.
03:11 I don't know exactly why it's upsetting,
03:14 but it makes you not trust mankind.
03:18 It makes you not trust reality.
03:21 And so I do think these are really, really important questions to ask ourselves, you know?
03:29 And the essential question is how to define progress,
03:33 because I'm not sure a lot of these things we're doing are helping.
03:35 They're making somebody a lot of money, but I don't know if they're helping anybody.
03:39 And it's about making sure it's fair, too, right?
03:40 Like, if your likeness is involved, you should be involved, too.
03:43 I wish I had something smarter to say about AI,
03:45 because I've been in some rooms where people have really sophisticated conversations about it.
03:51 I'm such a performer that I'm just not--
03:55 my brain isn't equipped to engage in that conversation,
03:59 but I do--it is worth talking about.
04:02 Everyone's trying to figure it out, right? Nobody's got the answer.
04:04 I know.
04:05 Keep this time to re-screen 2001 and start thinking about old Hal.
04:09 He wasn't a good guy.
04:11 Well, thank you so much.
04:13 Yeah, appreciate it, man.
04:14 (upbeat music)