Photo: Christopher Willard/Disney via Getty Images
Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary wants to replace background extras in movies with “100 Norwell Tillies” (he means Tilly Norwood). He also wants to replace himself with AI and his U.S. passport with U.A.E. citizenship. On The Hill’s World of Travel podcast, O’Leary talked up artificial intelligence, getting most of the names wrong in the process. Talking about his upcoming big screen part in Marty Supreme, O’Leary disparaged background actors as expendable to the artistic process. “Almost every scene had as many as 150 extras. Now, those people have to stay awake for 18 hours, be completely dressed in the background. Not necessarily in the movie, but they’re necessary to be there moving around. And yet, it costs millions of dollars to do that,” O’Leary said. “Why couldn’t you simply put AI agents in their place? Because they’re not the main actors. They’re only in the story visually.” So in Kevin O’Leary’s perfect movie, there’s digital actors walking around. Maybe one is in a red dress. Wow, she’s gorgeous. You turn around to get a second look at her and BANG! Shot by Agent Smith.
O’Leary sees AI cutting down on overhead everywhere he looks. “I’d argue, for the sake of the art, you should allow [AI] in certain cases. An extra is a really good case, because you can’t tell the difference,” he said. “You just put 100 Norwell Tillies in there and you’re good.” O’Leary was referring to Tilly Norwood, the AI actress that has been decried by SAG-AFTRA. He also shouted out “Velvet Sunset” (he meant AI band The Velvet Sundown). And there’s even an AI Kevin O’Leary wandering cyberspace. “We’ve got AI Kevin now and we did it in Abu Dhabi. I’m going back there in a couple weeks. I’m going to train the model even more,” O’Leary said, adding that he’s seeking full citizenship in the United Arab Emirates to work on AI, including making AI Kevin’s voice more like the real guy. “This next AI Kevin, you will not be able to tell the difference.” So why pay Kevin O’Leary once that happens?
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