Matthew McConaughey thinks there’s no point trying to “deny” AI technology.
Matthew McConaughey has embraced AI
The 56-year-old actor has decided to embrace AI, and the award-winning star has explained why he trademarked his catchphrase from Dazed and Confused, the 1993 coming-of-age comedy film.
Speaking at Variety and CNN’s town hall event in Texas, McConaughey said: “It’s coming. It’s already here. Don’t deny it.
“It’s not going to be enough to sit on the sidelines and make the moral plea that, ‘No, this is wrong.’ It’s not gonna last. There’s too much money to be made, and it’s too productive. So I say: Own yourself. Voice, likeness, et cetera. Trademark it. Whatever you gotta do, so when it comes, no one can steal you.”
The Hollywood star appeared at the event alongside Timothee Chalamet, and he explained to his former co-star how AI could change the way we live.
McConaughey explained: “They gotta come to you and go, ‘Timothée, I’d like you to be at my 50th birthday party in five months, and I’m gonna be in the Bahamas. I know you can’t be there in person, but I’m gonna halo you in and I want you as your character in Marty Supreme’.
“They can do that, but they’re gonna have to come to you to go, ‘Can I?’ Or they’re going to be in breach. And you’ll have the chance to be your own agency and go, ‘Yeah, for this amount.’ Or, ‘No.'”
McConaughey even suggested that AI actors could one day be recognised at award ceremonies.
He said: “It’s damn sure going to infiltrate our category. Does it become another category? Will we be, in five years, having ‘the best AI film’? ‘The best AI actor?’ Maybe.
“I think that might be the thing; it becomes another category. It’s gonna be in front of us in ways that we don’t even see. It’s going to get so good we’re not going to know the difference. That’s one of the big questions right now: the question of reality.
“It’s more hazy than ever — in a very exciting way, I think, but also a scary way. Prep for it. Own your own lane, so you at least have agency when it starts to trespass.”
McConaughey previously joined forces with an AI audio company to produce virtual replications of his voice.
The actor invested an undisclosed sum in the New York-based ElevenLabs, having first worked with the company back in 2022.
He said: “To everyone building with voice technology: keep going. You’re helping create a future where we can look up from our screens and connect through something as timeless as humanity itself — our voices.”