"It's here to stay": Reese Witherspoon seemingly defends AI and claims it is not after people's jobs

Reese Witherspoon, the American actress and producer, recently shared her thoughts on the current state of Hollywood and urged people to embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it "is here to stay."

On April 12, 2024, the 48-year-old took part in the PaleyFest LA 2024 event and indulged in a conversation about the most recent season of The Morning Show. When she was asked about her opinions on AI and its impact on artists' careers, she said:

“It’s here to stay, so just get used to it. And I think AI is not coming for your job; people who know how to use AI are coming for your job. So learn about it. It should be a tool upon which we lay our own creativity, our own humanity, and our own ethics."

The Morning Show is an American drama television series starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell that premiered on Apple TV+ in November 2019. Reese also serves as executive producer of the show.

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Reese Witherspoon talks about Artificial Intelligence and Hollywood at a PaleyFest event for The Morning Show

Reese Witherspoon was present on the panel of PaleyFest to discuss the new season of The Morning Show, conducted at Dolby Theatre, Hollywood. She was joined by Jennifer Aniston, Mark Duplass, Karen Pittman, Nicole Beharie, Tig Notaro, and Nestor Carbonell. Other personalities on the panel were showrunner, Charlotte Stoudt and executive producers, Michael Ellenberg and Mimi Leder.

Reese Witherspoon mentioned that artists should learn about AI to defend themselves from possible threats. The actress also spoke about the need for minorities to get knowledge of the field without fear of prejudice. She said:

"That’s a whole conversation — for women and people of color and people who are othered sometimes in those developmental spaces really need to get in there… let’s not be scared of it, let’s dive in."

Witherspoon was also asked by moderator, Kara Swisher, about this current time in tech and media, six months after the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. The producer poured out her thoughts on the streaming landscape and how it has changed in recent months. Reese Witherspoon said:

"Streaming was like the biggest thing for three to four years, and there was a never-ending constant smash for content, and like literally we could sell anything."

The Legally Blonde actress continued:

"What I’m seeing right now, I think from the buying and selling landscape side of it, is that probably part of the strike was a reset for these studios that are not profitable, the streaming services, and an opportunity for them to resize, rework and cut costs."

Witherspoon said that the cost cuts would mean that people would "see less stuff" which she thought was "probably good". The actress explained that the abundance of new media "was just chaos." She called it "a flea market" and suggested that showrunners could perhaps slow down the process.

With a relatively less amount of content produced in the industry, "there’s going to be more intention around it, and it’s gonna be a little bit harder."

Reese Witherspoon said that the younger generation is "consuming much more media on socials" (not on traditional platforms like theaters). She added that her kids do not go to the movies. While talking about her and Jennifer Aniston's acting career, she said:

"Are careers like ours possible ever again? Are there opportunities for people to really emerge as a star? How do you know with no data transparency? How do we even know if something did well or didn’t do right?"

The actress said that Netflix was “pretty transparent” and revealed some figures about their viewership, however, other platforms do not. The Big Little Lies star explained that it then becomes harder for actors to negotiate deals and for producers to analyze the value of artists and projects.

Reese Witherspoon has become one of the industry’s top producers with the launch of her production banner called Hello Sunshine. She has made film adaptations of the novels, namely Gone Girl, Where the Crawdads Sing, and the miniseries, Daisy Jones & the Six.