Opinion
Over the past few months, fears have been growing over how advanced artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming, particularly in Hollywood. The former “Dukes Of Hazzard” star John Schneider, however, isn’t afraid of AI for a very simple reason.
Schneider Is ‘Not Afraid’ Of AI
“What AI does not have and what AI cannot simulate is a heart, is a soul. So, I’m not afraid of AI,” Schneider, 63, recently told Fox News.
“A lot of people are talking about AI like it’s this terrible, terrible thing that’s coming in. I think it’s powdered cream at best,” he continued. “You know, it’s Coffee-mate. It will never be half-and-half. It’ll never even be 2% [milk]. It’s always going to be powdered cow.”
“Now, it may be good, it may taste good, but it ain’t milk and it ain’t half-and-half. It is not a dairy product. So, I’m not concerned about it,” Schneider added. “I don’t think anybody should be concerned about it.”
AI was one of the major issues in negotiations during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that shut down Hollywood for much of last summer and fall. Despite some fears from others to the contrary, Schneider is confident that humans will never be full replaced by AI when it comes to the creative process in Hollywood.
“When the rubber hits the road, great content comes from inspiration, which I think comes when your heart and your soul bump up against each other,” Schneider said. “And that’s not going to happen in AI.”
“So there, take that, AI! I’m not worried about you,” he concluded with a laugh. “You Coffee-mate, powder-cow phony!”
Related: ‘Dukes Of Hazzard’ Star John Schneider Calls For Biden To Be ‘Publicly Hung’
Justine Bateman’s AI Warning
While Schneider seems positive that AI doesn’t pose a threat to human beings in Hollywood, other stars are not so sure.
“I think generative AI is one of the worst ideas we’ve ever had in this society,” the former “Family Ties” star Justine Bateman told Deadline back in November as she warned of the dangers of “synthetic performers” being used to replace living actors.
Bateman, 57, spent much of last year trying to sound the alarm about AI in Hollywood.
“I think AI has no place in Hollywood at all. To me, tech should solve problems that humans have,” Batemen told Fox News back in May. “Using ChatGPT or any … software that’s using AI to write screenplays, using that in place of a writer is not solving a problem.”
“We don’t have a lack of writers,” she continued. “We don’t have a lack of actors. We don’t have a lack of directors. We don’t have a lack of talented people.”
Related: Robin Williams’ Daughter Blasts AI Attempts To Recreate Her Father – ‘I Find It Personally Disturbing’
‘The Use Of AI Makes Me Sad’
Bateman went on to talk about why the thought of AI becoming prevalent makes her “sad.”
“The use of AI makes me sad because I feel like it’s … getting away from being human,” Bateman explained. “But we’ve been doing a lot of that, right? Plastic surgery. Filters. Doing things over Zoom instead of in person. But the idea that somebody would use AI to replace human expression, I think, is the saddest thing to me.”
“To ask a computer programmer … to write a letter that you wanted to write or to write an essay for you or to write a script for you is just like, ‘Wow, that’s so much a part of being a human, is to express yourself through writing or artwork or whatever it is,” she concluded. “That’s the saddest thing to me is … just people pulling away from being human.”
When it comes to AI, who do you think is in the right here between Schneider and Bateman? Let us know in the comments section.
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