Gal Gadot Is Being Dragged For Her Comments About AI, And It’s Not A Good Look - BuzzFeed

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As is the case in many industries, artificial intelligence is a huge talking point in Hollywood right now. Some stars are all for it, while others have pushed back. And now, Gal Gadot is telling us where she stands on it all.

For context, Gal is set to appear in Doug Liman's upcoming movie, Bitcoin, which has garnered controversy for using AI to create sets and lighting. The film — which also stars Casey Affleck, Pete Davidson, and Isla Fisher — is a biographical thriller following a man's quest to prove he created Bitcoin.

A producer, Ryan Kavanaugh, alleged that they saved more than $200 million by filming in an empty space and using AI to create production design and lighting. Versions of Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Eric Trump have also been portrayed in the film by actors, and AI enhancements will reportedly be used to make them more closely resemble the real people.

Now, on this week's episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, host Josh Horowitz asked Gal about her involvement in Bitcoin, prompting her to talk about how she's embracing AI as it becomes increasingly more prevalent in the film industry.

"I am afraid of AI, but I am going to be afraid and look away? No. I am afraid, but I am playing with it, and learning it, and trying to educate myself," she said. "The train has left the station. It's one of those things. Either you’re going to [work with it] or be out of the game completely. I am trying to make the best of it and protect whatever I can protect."

Talking about Bitcoin specifically, Gal clarified that "the AI component" was used for "sets and the lighting" only. And because the film was shot in what sounds like an empty warehouse, Gal said it almost felt like she was performing in a theater. "Everything was stripped down, and all that was left was the performance, so it felt like a pure art form of creating a movie," she explained.

Though she's yet to see a "single shot" from the film, Gal said one of the benefits of using AI was the reduced time spent waiting around on set. "As an actress, I wait so much... Here, we would film nonstop because we didn’t have to wait for lighting," she recalled. "We would film on and on and on for 10 hours, so that was amazing… As actors you’re always hot. You don’t cool off. But we’ll see. It’s crazy."

On the other hand, Gal said the use of AI meant that it took a lot longer to finalize her contract for the movie, as she and her team wanted to ensure that her actual performance wouldn't be edited. "It was six months from my lawyers to go through every scenario we could think about as far as the AI component of it," she said. "I did not want AI to have anything to do with my performance. We had to protect that — to such an extent that SAG called my lawyers to ask for pointers to update the SAG contract to protect other actors. As far as the performances, it’s all me."

Well, there's a lot to take in there, but these comments have gone viral and ruffled a lot of feathers. Most notably, people on X have taken issue with Gal's desire to protect herself from being impacted by AI, but seemingly not the set workers and designers who would've lost out on jobs.

Elsewhere in the backlash, people called out the narrative among many pro-AI folks that the technology is something we should all accept, despite its negative impacts on the world. "something having been invented doesn’t exempt the need for ethics and regulation in the use of that item," one user wrote.

Wherever you stand on this, let me know your thoughts in the comments. You can find Gal's full appearance on Happy Sad Confused here.