Cage expressed concern that his likeness could be used following his death
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Nicolas Cage says he is "terrified" of artificial intelligence and is worried that the technology could be used to replace him.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the veteran actor expressed his uneasiness while recalling a film, revealing that the production created a digital scan of him to match his eye color and change certain physical features.
"I don't know. They're just going to steal my body and do whatever they want with it via digital AI … God, I hope not AI. I'm terrified of that. I've been very vocal about it," he said.
Cage also said he found the idea of using AI in movies "scary" and expressed concern about the future of artistry in the industry.
NICOLAS CAGE DECIDES TO MAKE LESS MOVIES, FOCUS ON HIS DAUGHTER AS HE NEARS 60
Cage's next project, "Longlegs," is set to hit theaters July 12. (Photo by Amy Sussman/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images)
"It makes me wonder, you know, where will the truth of the artist end up? Is it going to be replaced? Is it going to be transmogrified? Where's the heartbeat going to be? I mean, what are you going to do with my body and face when I'm dead? I don't want anything to do with it!" he added.
The actor has been vocal about AI in the past, telling Yahoo! Entertainment that he does not have a positive view on the rapidly evolving technology.
"AI is a nightmare to me," Cage said. "It's inhumane. You can't get more inhumane than artificial intelligence … I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art … and appropriating [it]."
Cage's next project, "Longlegs," will be released Friday. An Oscar winner who's been in more than 100 movies, he is not the only Hollywood name that has spoken out on AI.
In May, actress Emily Blunt said that "people have huge concerns" about it.
She continued, "AI is something we're all nervous about, and it's extraordinary what human beings have done with technology, but it doesn't mean that you should necessarily use it. Is it for our greater good? For the good of cinema? For people's jobs? I don't know…"
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 28: Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult attend the premiere of Universal Pictures' "Renfield" at Museum of Modern Art on March 28, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
Artificial intelligence was a key sticking point in negotiations last year during the writers' and actors' strikes that shut down Hollywood for most of the summer and fall last year.
Freddy Bouciegues, a stunt performer and coordinator who has worked with stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, told Fox News Digital during the strikes last year he was hoping to see a "fair contract."
"If you use our likeness, and you see our likeness, and you see that it's a performer, you want to be fairly compensated for it," he noted. "And it's not an unfair ask, I don't think."
After months of negotiations, SAG-AFTRA, the actors' guild, ended its strike in November.
According to a summary of the new contract on the union's website, employers must obtain "clear and conspicuous" consent from performers before creating "digital replicas" of them for a project and pay them for the time they would have otherwise worked in person.
Fox News' Elizabeth Stanton contributed to this report.
Nikolas Lanum is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
