Ben Affleck Calls AI Job Fears “Propaganda,” Worries About Schools
Ben Affleck says fears about artificial intelligence are often overstated and argues that filmmakers can use the technology as a tool rather than a replacement for workers. He also raised concerns about students’ reliance on AI and said he is cautious about explaining its role in his new film, Animals.
AI is prompting fears about jobs and even humanity’s future, but Ben Affleck says some of those concerns are “propaganda.” The actor and filmmaker argues that people may see the technology differently once they use it, while warning that reliance on AI can raise concerns in education.
Affleck made the remarks in a recent interview with Bloomberg, as debate continues over how artificial intelligence could affect film production. He described AI as a form of computing and a technological advancement that can serve as a tool.
“[Once] it moves from this nebulous, abstract, terrifying alien—‘It’s going to kill us all, we’re paperclips, and it’s going to wipe out half of white-collar jobs, all this propaganda’—and they actually see what it is, it’s like another form of computing that does tools and is a technological advancement,” Affleck said.
His position is not an unqualified endorsement. Affleck said he worries about how AI could affect children’s education and whether people will depend on it too heavily.
“When I worry about AI, I worry about my kids in school, I worry about the 30% rise in the number of As given out at colleges in the last three years,” he said. “I worry about learned helplessness. I worry about responsible use.”
That tension—AI as a practical aid, but also a possible source of overreliance—runs through Affleck’s comments about Hollywood. He said he has not seen the technology used in films simply to cut costs or mistreat workers. In his account, AI can support production while keeping the workforce in place.
“It’s being used on films now where they have the same number of people—in fact, more people technically are being employed,” Affleck said.
The Fortune report places that claim alongside Labor Department data showing that the motion picture and video production industry shed 49,000 jobs between 2016 and 2026, a decline of 21%. The figures describe broader industry employment; they do not establish that AI caused those job losses.
Affleck has also been involved in AI-focused filmmaking. He founded InterPositive, a startup focused on artificial intelligence for film, in 2022. Fortune reported that Netflix reportedly bought the company earlier this year for $587 million.
Asked about AI’s role in Animals, his new movie, Affleck declined to explain exactly how the technology was being used in production. He said filmmakers aim to preserve an illusion of reality and compared revealing production methods to a magician explaining a trick before a show.
“I’m a little bit hesitant to point out what they are or even talk about it because in my business, we’re trying to foster the illusion of reality,” he said.
The caution points to a practical issue for audiences and film workers alike: the use of AI may shape how a movie is made, even when viewers do not see the tools on screen. Affleck’s comments do not detail which parts of Animals involved AI, so the extent of its use remains unspecified in the source.
Affleck’s public defense of AI also sits alongside his concerns about its effects on learning and responsible use. He said Hollywood should treat the technology as something workers can use, while remaining alert to the risk of people becoming too dependent on it.
Labor Department data cited records a decline of 21% in motion picture and video production employment between 2016 and 2026.
