Rachel Zegler Is ‘Really Scared’ About Being Replaced by AI: It’s ‘F*cking Dystopian’

Samantha Bergeson
·2-min read

Rachel Zegler is admitting that she has been “really scared” about AI putting her out of work.

The actress, who made her debut with “West Side Story” and is set to lead Disney’s live-action “Snow White” remake, told Variety that she was concerned about artificial intelligence replacing her onscreen.

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“I was really scared of being replaced by an artificial intelligence version of myself that they scanned when I was 18 and then never being able to work on a set again,” Zegler said. “What was stopping them from using that for the rest of my life?”

During the SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023, Zegler supported protections against the dangers of artificial intelligence in Hollywood.

The “Y2K” actress said that she already had “465 photos taken of every corner of my body” for CGI stunts. “It was fucking dystopian,” she added.

Zegler has also appeared in action films “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.” She did not specify which film or films the aforementioned photos were for.

Zegler isn’t the only actor speaking out against possible AI replacement: “Sunny” star Rashida Jones told IndieWire that she does “have a bit of fear” about AI, adding “and not that I’m afraid to be replaced, but I could be, I could easily be. The question is, will it continue to be a tool or will it replace us? I don’t know.”

Tom Hanks said during “The Adam Buxton Podcast” in 2023 that AI could also in contrast extend actors’ careers posthumously.

“What is a bona fide possibility right now, if I wanted to, I could get together and pitch a series of seven movies that would star me in them in which I would be 32 years old from now until kingdom come,” Hanks said. “Anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are, by way of AI or deep fake technology…I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it, but my performances can go on and on and on. Outside of the understanding that it’s been done by AI or deep fake, there’ll be nothing to tell you that it’s not me and me alone, and it’s going to have some degree of lifelike quality.”

The “Forrest Gump” actor noted of audiences, “Without a doubt, people will be able to tell, but the question is, will they care? There are some people that won’t care, that won’t make that delineation.”

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