Ben Affleck Vs. Nicolas Cage: Why Hollywood’s AI Disagreement Is Good

On Sept. 30, Ben Affleck told the audience at Bloomberg Screentime 2026 that he used generative AI “for lots of things” in his Netflix thriller Animals. On Oct. 10, Nicolas Cage told a New York Comic Con crowd that he had refused to sign a waiver allowing Amazon to use AI on Spider-Noir. Ten days apart, two Oscar winners delivered opposite verdicts on the same technology. The distance between them maps the question Hollywood has been slowly settling: on whose terms generative AI enters the production process.

Ben Affleck and Hollywood’s AI Adopters Treat Generative AI As a Tool with Limits

Affleck’s position carries weight because he has built a business on it. Netflix paid $587 million in cash for InterPositive, the post-production AI company he founded in 2022, and the streamer has said roughly 300 of its titles have already used generative AI. At Screentime, Affleck dismissed predictions of mass job loss as “propaganda” and called AI “another form of computing.” He also said its role on Animals was concentrated in post-production.

His endorsement comes with conditions. He worries about “learned helplessness” in his children’s education, and at the film’s premiere he said he would not use a model trained on copyrighted work. Nor does he believe a typed prompt will ever produce a movie audiences want to see. Matthew McConaughey occupies similar ground. “It’s not coming. It’s here,” he said of AI at a CNN town hall in February, even as he has reportedly trademarked his image to deter unauthorized imitation.

Nicolas Cage and Other AI Critics Defend Human Authorship and The Jobs Behind It

Resistance isn’t confined to actors. Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri said his studio felt no pressure to introduce AI into its pipeline. Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA reiterated objections to synthetic performer Tilly Norwood, alleging uncompensated use of performers’ work. Her creator disputes that characterization, emphasizing original prompting and human oversight.