Peter Jackson: AI a ‘special effect,’ urges likeness rules

At the Cannes Film Festival, director Peter Jackson described artificial intelligence as another visual-effects tool during a masterclass where he received an honorary Palme d’Or. He defended the use of AI in filmmaking while stressing that the main concern is how studios and companies use performers’ images.

“To me, it’s just a special effect,” Jackson told the audience, adding, “It’s no different from other special effects.” He said problems arise when performers lose control of their image or identity.

Jackson gave an example about licensed use: “If you’re doing an AI duplicate of somebody, like Indiana Jones or anyone else-as long as you’ve licensed the rights off the person who you’re showing, I don’t see the issue.” He warned the issue is “when people’s likenesses get stolen and usurped,” and suggested current fears about AI could make it harder for performance-capture actors to receive recognition. He referenced a motion-capture award debate and said, “Which is a bit unfair, especially in the Andy Serkis case where it’s not an AI-generated performance, it’s a human-generated performance 100% of the way.”

This month, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences updated its rules to bar AI-generated performances and screenplays from Oscar eligibility unless human actors and writers remain central to the work.

Also at Cannes, actress Demi Moore urged the industry to adapt to AI rather than try to stop its development. “AI is here. And so to fight it is to fight something that we will lose,” she told the festival. Moore added that the technology cannot replace the human source of artistic expression: “The truth is there really isn’t anything to fear, because what it can never replace is what true art comes from. It comes from the soul.”

Filmmakers and studios are using AI to draft scripts, alter performances and recreate actors’ faces and voices. Performance-capture work typically involves actors wearing sensors and providing both movement and vocal work that are later mapped onto digital characters.

Discussions at the festival focused on consent, licensing, credit and legal protections when elements of a performance are altered or recreated digitally. Awards groups, industry organizations and lawmakers are debating standards for credit and compensation when digital tools change or reproduce performances.

Jackson emphasized licensing and consent as the central policy issue and called for clearer rules on who controls a performer’s likeness. Filmmakers, actors and governing bodies are weighing how to protect performers while allowing filmmakers to use digital tools in production.