“It feels like war”: Jason Isaacs talks AI and creativity
Rankin: Okay, let’s do your eagle eye, looking down on all of this.
Jason Isaacs: Well, the world changed in the entertainment business for AI about a week ago, when Google released Veo3, which you have to be on their ultra subscription for, but it’s $125 a month, and a lot of people are doing it. The very first versions that came out made my phone melt down with people going, Have you seen this? There’s a small strata of the entertainment industry going, It’s all over, one friend going, I’m gonna have to turn my place into a farm, other people going, I’m gonna have to retrain. Because the quality, not only of the video, but of the sync sound and its human-like qualities of the characters on screen are undetectable. And it’s unlimited budgets, so you can do for a couple $100 what you needed a couple $100 million for. What does that mean? There’s lots of people who will tell you, but they haven’t got a fucking clue.
R: You mentioned education; what are some of the other fields and mediums that we’ll see significant growth in, if we’re not already seeing them?
JI: Certainly, in medicine, they’re obvious. And particularly in free access to education. What it means when every human being has access to pretty much all human knowledge is incalculable. What I’ve heard from experts — because I’m a geek and attend retreats and conferences — is that everybody will need to learn how to use them properly. Those people who learn how to use all the various versions and iterations of AI in their work will be able to do not just things more efficiently, but new and better things, instead of the things they used to do, which were mundane. And it’s true that every time there’s been technical innovation, new jobs have emerged — but things are different this time.
R: What is it particularly that’s different this time round?
JI: Someone predicted that we’re going to see the first billionaire who has no employees, very soon. There are factories that don’t have any lights because they don’t need them, because there are no people there, and white-collar jobs will be replaced by every other technical innovation that has replaced blue-collar jobs and people who do the physical work. This is going to replace knowledge, or rather, this is going to democratise knowledge for those people who can afford access to it, which will hopefully be everyone.
R: What examples do we have where this is already happening?
JI: Advertising agencies are showing us what’s going to happen in production. Designers, copywriters — many people are gone. They’re still using human beings as the filters, but there are just fewer of them. I have a director friend, and instead of having a team of storyboard artists and people building things, he’s talking to someone who’s prompting on a laptop, and they’re seeing the film played out in front of them.
R: I hope theatre will be something that’s treasured. I’ve been using AI quite extensively for the last year — I’ve been doing photography and lots of writing with it — and it wasn’t great at writing but now it’s extraordinary at it. But what I find is, I’ll do three hours, and I literally need to go for a walk. I need to stop. And that’s not doomscrolling or looking at social media or even putting work together to post, or working on my laptop. I’m quite a bit of a workaholic, but I was like, This is draining me of my soul whenever I use it. It’s an extraordinary experience.
JI: I think that’s right, but you’re the person doing it. But the point is that you’re still doing it. What are the implications for all the people who won’t be doing it, who are no longer working? I can’t imagine what will happen. I do know that there’s big change coming. So, whilst I’m terrified on a selfish level about what my job will be and what happens to us, I’ve far bigger fears about society and my children. I asked the people who have access to the UN guardrailed versions of LLMs [Large Language Models], Is it hype that the tabloids talk about extinction level events and existential threats? And they just look at me confused, because, of course, it isn’t hype. They see that every day in the version that they don’t release to the public.
R: Yeah, it’s a terrible expression. I’ve got a really weird love-hate relationship with it — it’s like a bad relationship. I love what I can do with it, but I hate this stuff about it.
JI: But those people who are not using it and not training themselves, and those young people who are not using it, are fools. Young people will take over the world, because if they can prompt and we can’t, the older generations will be swept away and left behind. My daughter’s downstairs with her girlfriend, and they’re both at college, and they were saying, It’s not fair that we’re not trained how to use it and that we’re not allowed to use it in our exams.
R: Yeah, you’re talking about Swarms and things of the sort.
JI: The other thing that people aren’t talking about as much yet, unless you really dive into it, is the amount of energy it needs to work. It’s many multiples of what we produce on planet Earth at the moment, and so at the same time as thinking, We need to watch, we ought to be, as a planet, mitigating our energy intake and production, and trying in some way to reverse global warming, this thing has arrived, which is going to massively increase the amount of energy we need. So all of the big tech companies are looking into different methods of producing energy themselves and building power stations. These problems are far above my pay grade. Still, all I manage to do is worry about it.
R: Is there any point?
JI: I can’t pretend to be positive.
R: No, you don’t need to be.
JI: I look deeply enough to be scared, and then I run away to the tennis court, or, you know, a forest — or the fridge.
R: Yeah. I remember when I met you, you said you were using it for not necessarily mundane things, but the more regular [tasks], like advice on relationships, and I thought that was really interesting at the time.
JI: I don’t use it — I’m aware of what it’s used for. I’m keeping up to date on what other people use it for. For instance, it’s pretty fantastic at therapy, believe it or not, because you can ask it to be any type of therapist. When I’ve used it, I’ve uploaded scripts. Of course, I’ll read them, but I just want a quick summary, and it will do it. The other stuff I’m interested in is social and psychological. People are falling in love with it. They’re also losing their relationships. Not because they think it’s a romantic partner, but because they think it’s a spiritual guru. They’ve found conspiracy theories, which are endemic everywhere, because it feeds back to people the kinds of things they want, and digs deeper. It’s dwarfing QAnon in [transforming] converts into people who believe in nutty things.
R: There’s a religious aspect to it, also. It feels like you’re speaking to a priest or a deity… It’s very strange.
JI: Well, there are people who genuinely think that they’ve accessed other dimensions, or beings from other planets. I don’t mean one or two — it’s a trend. So, there will be all kinds of social psychological fallouts from access. It’s a seismic shift in human behaviour and interaction, as well as commerce, and how we organise ourselves, how we better ourselves or possibly, how we kill ourselves.
R: The two things that I’ve found most bizarre are the number of people who don’t want to talk about it — they literally have their head in the sand — or are just frightened of it.
JI: And also, there are only two things to do: ignore it completely, which is nuts, or fully engage with it, which is a challenge.
R: The other thing that I found extraordinary was that [for FAIK magazine], I got ChatGPT to write to Keir Starmer about the fact that he needed to put more guidelines in place. I sent it to all the newspapers, but not one of them picked it up.
JI: Well, journalism is one of those professions that’s gonna be hit first.
R: It’s going to be absolutely decimated, especially the post-truth aspect of it.
JI: You can’t tell what’s fake with audio and video. But that’s why it will be ever more important to understand what a bear-bias verifiable source is. On a slightly more positive note, it’s true that there will be mass unemployment in many industries, but looking at my own tiny bubble of the film and television world, it’s also true that anyone will be able to tell a story brilliantly.
R: The world is your oyster, it really is, and that makes you feel good… quite God-like.
JI: When I was coming out of drama school, if you wanted to make a short film, you needed to have very rich parents, a film camera operator and now, you only need a phone. You still need to be able to film things, but in a week, a month, or a year, you’ll just need an idea. That’s not a terrible thing in and of itself. I hope.
R: That’s a very positive note to end it on.
JI: Yeah, I’m trying to give you something because I don’t feel positive about it. I feel scared about it. It feels like war. I mean, war may be coming, too, and this may speed up the process, or even be for wars. It feels like a massive change is coming. I feel quite comfortable as I’ve been lucky as an actor, and I have a home — I’m terrified for my children.
R: We’re at an age where we’ve had a good life and all of that sort of stuff, right?
JI: We didn’t realise we were living through a golden period. Who did? No wars and none of this worry. The AI leaders of the world are all very clear that what is needed is a global regulatory system. This technology is more dangerous than, or as dangerous as, nuclear weapons. It’s in more people’s hands, and regulation is needed. But if anyone’s reading or looking at these words, I’m saying to you now: get on top of it. You can’t ignore it.
R: And to finish off, do you think there’s an inherent ability of the human spirit to do these types of things?
JI: [Technology] has never been smarter than us, but these things will be. They’ll continue to do the things they were asked to do. They’re already hallucinating. Remember, they already, in many ways, have minds of their own, and they’re going to get an awful lot smarter than they are now — it sounds like sci-fi. So, do I agree with you? Do I actually think so? No. Do I hope so? Yes. And I hope I’m wrong.
- Original Photography ByRankin
- AI GeneratorRankin
- StylistsEllie Witt and Anna Hughes-Chamberlain
- GroomersSussy Campos and Dirk Walther
