AI Can't Take the Place of Real Actors, Says Filmmaker

Nigerian filmmaker Akay Mason believes that films made by artificial intelligence cannot match the emotional bond that human actors create with their audience.

Mason shared his thoughts in a post on X on Friday. He noted that AI films lack the emotional richness that people naturally feel when they watch real actors on screen.

"AI films will fail. Every AI short film I’ve seen lacks the emotional connection we instinctively feel when watching actual humans perform. It just feels empty," he stated.

He also pointed out that part of the attraction of human actors comes from celebrity culture and how fans tend to idolize their favorite stars.

"Another reason is our tendency toward idolatry and celebrity culture. We love to worship our stars. With AI films, there are no stars to worship. You know the character on screen is nothing but a series of codes," he explained.

Mason did recognize that AI can be helpful for filmmakers when it comes to specific technical tasks.

"Sure, filmmakers now use AI as a tool to fix VFX, lighting, or sound issues, and that’s perfectly okay (heck, I even used ChatGPT to fix a few grammatical issues with this post)," he said.

Despite the increasing use of AI in filmmaking, he insisted that it cannot copy what a human actor brings to a performance.

"But if we’re being real, AI actors cannot replace a real actor’s performance, which is, at its core, the expression of the human soul," he added.