Emma Thompson made it clear she was not a fan of artificial intelligence during her latest appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
The actress laid into the technology during a conversation with host Stephen Colbert, blasting it as an “intense irritation” amid her writing process.
“Intense irritation. I cannot begin to tell you,” Thompson replied when asked her thoughts on AI. “Because I write longhand on a pad. Old script, actually. Because I believe that there’s a connection between the brain and the hand.”
Colbert co-signed this notion, noting that he too needs to write things out by hand in order to “memorize” lines.
As the conversation went on, Thompson struggled to hide her frustration with AI, especially in regards to the frequent suggestions for her written work.
“When I’ve written something, I will put it into a word document. And, recently, the word document is constantly saying, ‘Would you like me to rewrite that for you?’” she continued. “And so, I just end up going, ‘I don’t need you to f–king rewrite what I’ve just written. Will you f–k off? Just f–k off.’ I’m so annoyed.”
Watch Thompson’s comments below.
@colbertlateshow Dame Emma Thompson has two words for you, AI… #Colbert #EmmaThompson #AI #writing ♬ original sound – colbertlateshow
Thompson isn’t the first celebrity to call out artificial intelligence. In fact, last week, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt called for AI super-intelligence development to stop until safety standards could be met.
“Why would you want to build an AI that’s smarter than humans?” Gordon-Levitt remarked in an X video. “You could say AI is going to cure diseases or AI is going to help strengthen our national security, and, yeah, I want those things, too. But why couldn’t we just build an AI tool to help cure diseases or build an AI tool to help with national security? Why does it have to all be one big product that does everything?”
Additionally, Sean Astin, who currently serves as the president of SAG-AFTRA, condemned OpenAI’s Sora 2, an AI video generation app, for threatening “the economic foundation of our entire industry.”
“If AI companies can shift the burden to rightsholders to opt out, what does copyright really mean? Opt-out isn’t consent — let alone informed consent. That’s why SAG-AFTRA fights for opt-in approaches,” Astin, along with National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, wrote in a memo earlier this month. “No one’s creative work, image, likeness or voice should be used without affirmative, informed consent. Anything less is an unjustifiable violation of our rights.”
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.
