--- title: "Tom Cruise Secretly Warned Movie Studios About AI Use" description: "Entertainment workers' anti-AI campaign can apparently count \"Mission: Impossible\" star Tom Cruise among its advocates." date: "2023-07-18" modified: "2023-07-18" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tom-cruise-studios-sag-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "generative ai" - "the digest" - "tom cruise" - "unions" --- # Tom Cruise Secretly Warned Movie Studios About AI Use ![Entertainment workers' anti-AI campaign can apparently count "Mission: Impossible" star Tom Cruise among its advocates.]() *\Image: Shannon Finney via Getty / Futurism\* ## Risky Business Entertainment workers' anti-AI campaign can apparently count "Mission: Impossible" star Tom Cruise among its advocates. According [to *The Hollywood Reporter*](), Cruise was brought in via Zoom to studio negotiations last month between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to discuss concerns about the use of AI in cinema. While Cruise's precise words haven't been reported, context clues suggest that he was joining the union's anti-AI push. For one, *THR* reports that the guild only invites actors to negotiations when their point of view has been vetted and found helpful. And his [many controversies]() notwithstanding, Cruise does have a proletarian bent; his other notable contribution to the discussion, per the reporting, was to advocate for the rights of stunt performers. ## The Last SamurAI As *THR* notes, the "Top Gun" star is the biggest celebrity to join the negotiations amid the massive and publicity-grabbing SAG-AFTRA strike, where the [rights of actors during the rise of AI]() have emerged as a key issue. AI's impact on Hollywood extends far beyond acting talent as well, with the Writers Guild *also* on strike while advocating for their [rights in the face of generative AI tech](). It's also worth noting that Cruise has had some of the highest-visibility exposure to AI tech in Hollywood, since he was infamously [deepfaked on TikTok]() a few years ago in a series of shorts that went mega-viral for their eerie realism. Also perhaps relevant? The latest installment of his decades-long "Mission: Impossible" franchise, released this month, is [about a horrific future AI](). So although Cruise is notoriously media-shy, it seems plausible that he's pretty fired up about the AI issue. **More on the WGA/SAG AI strike:** [*Studios Want to Replace Background Actors With AI After Paying Them for Only One Day*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()