Mark Wahlberg on using AI in film ‘the right way’ and being open to an AI clone carrying on his legacy
TechCrunch Aisha Malik
Mark Wahlberg says AI belongs in movies if it’s used to help, not replace, real actors. He’d even let an AI version of himself keep working after he’s gone.
Based on reporting by TechCrunch, Aisha Malik — read the original for the full story.
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Mark Wahlberg has a simple rule for AI in movies: use it to help the work, not to fake the whole thing. Speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt, he said he’s comfortable with AI being used on his upcoming Pete Rose biopic to enhance pieces like stadium scenes, but not to spit out a script and replace human performers.
That puts him squarely in the middle of Hollywood’s AI fight. He’s not cheering for fully automated filmmaking. He’s talking about the old effects toolbox with a newer engine behind it — the same instinct that once made big visual moments in films like Jurassic Park and The Perfect Storm feel cutting edge, only now he says the tech can still support real storytelling rather than take it over.
He also said he’d be open to the kind of scanning and replica setup offered by CAA Vault, the Creative Artists Agency facility that captures bodies, faces, movements and voices to build AI versions of actors. Wahlberg hadn’t visited it, but said he could imagine his children or grandchildren controlling his likeness and image in the future.
And he went even further: if his animated series Ted somehow kept going for decades with an AI version of him, he said he wouldn’t oppose that either. His view is blunt enough to be useful. If there’s a real audience and the artist is comfortable with it, he thinks people should be able to watch what they want — even if the star on screen is no longer entirely flesh and blood.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
Wahlberg’s take is the practical one Hollywood keeps circling and then pretending is complicated. Use AI as a tool, keep the people, and stop acting like every new machine is either a miracle or an apocalypse. The real debate is simpler: who controls the likeness, and who gets paid when the ghost keeps working.
Read more about this at: TechCrunch
