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The world of The Matrix seems more and more real each passing day, and none, including the movie's star, Keanu Reeves, are immune to it. The past years have seen massive developments in AI-based technologies, which include Deepfakes. Despite the proposed positive impacts of the technology, it remains scary to many, especially artists.
In a 2023 interview with Wired, Keanu Reeves and John Wick director Chad Stahelski spoke on this topic, where Keanu started with his take on sci-fi, claiming that human interaction with technology was what he was interested in. This conversation led to Reeves' offbeat clause that states that his performances couldn’t be manipulated digitally. Speaking on this, the actor said:
"Yeah, digitally. I don’t mind if someone takes a blink out during an edit. But early on, in the early 2000s, or it might have been the ’90s, I had a performance changed. [He won’t say which.] They added a tear to my face, and I was just like, “Huh?!” It was like, I don’t even have to be here."
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When asked about the blatant manipulation of digital likeness in recent years, Reeves expanded on his take, saying:
"What’s frustrating about that is you lose your agency. When you give a performance in a film, you know you’re going to be edited, but you’re participating in that. If you go into deepfake land, it has none of your points of view. That’s scary. It’s going to be interesting to see how humans deal with these technologies."
He further elaborated on the data collection that makes all this possible and how the lines between the real and the meta world are rapidly blurring now.
Keanu Reeves disects the increasing influence of AI in our society
Just as we would expect from Neo, Keanu Reeves got into detail about the possible harms of the increasingly digital world. He pointed out something that many have been worried about in this increasingly AI-domianted world- the division between the real and the virtual.
While talking about this Reeves recounted one particular experience he had when he was explaining the plot of The Matrix to a 15-year-old kid. He said about this experience:
"I was trying to explain the plot of The Matrix to this 15-year-old once, and that the character I played was really fighting for what was real. And this young person was just like, “Who cares if it’s real?”"
This goes on to show the depth of the impact AI had on humans, and it goes beyond this distinction. It is also the limitless power that technology has over us, especially with the volume of data collection. Adding to this, Keanu Reeves further said:
"They’re having such cultural, sociological impacts, and the species is being studied. There’s so much “data” on behaviors now. Technologies are finding places in our education, in our medicine, in our entertainment, in our politics, and how we war and how we work."
Of course, the concerns Keanu Reeves expressed have been heard and discussed before but as more technological advances occur, it seems more and more irreversible.
Only the coming years can definitely tell where the world is truly headed.
Keanu Reeves will soon be seen in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. He has a hoard of other projects on the way as well.
