New Delhi, Oct 14 Hollywood star Paul Bettany voiced the character of an AI assistant at a time when the technology was still largely the stuff of fantasy. With the world now increasingly embracing it, the British actor says he feels “trepidatious” about the strides artificial intelligence has made.
For Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans, Bettany was the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony Stark’s AI assistant, in 2008’s “Iron Man” and it was a role that he continued voicing in subsequent films that featured the billionaire superhero character, famously played by Robert Downey Jr.
He then made his on-screen debut as Vision, an android superhero created using J.A.R.V.I.S’s consciousness, in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015). He now reprises the part in the latest series “VisionQuest”.
So, what does he make of the AI advancements today?
“I think like everybody, I’m slightly trepidatious about AI. I think there’s a race to get to super intelligence. And that’s frightening,” Bettany told PTI in a virtual interview.
“That’s a really big unknown. And it seems to me that there are two versions of the future. And they’re both pretty dystopian at the moment, which is the subjugation of human beings and loss of agency. And the other is a massive underclass of people who don’t know how to use AI in a way that makes you super powered,” he added.
Bettany advocated for a version “that is more democratised and offers that superpower to everybody”.
“Because my son knows how to use AI in a way that makes him super powered. But I don’t,” he added.
His “VisionQuest” co-star Ruaridh Mollica said it all depends on who is behind the technology.
“You know, I think if someone’s got the good intentions of humanity and people behind it, then it will go that way. And if someone doesn’t, it will go the (other) way,” Mollica, who has a degree in computer science, said.
“VisionQuest”, which started streaming on JioHotstar on Tuesday, is the concluding instalment of a trilogy that began with “WandaVision” and continued with “Agatha All Along” (2024).
The new series follows Vision as he goes into hiding and searches for a new purpose, consulting artificial intelligence programmes embedded in his system, including J.A.R.V.I.S., F.R.I.D.A.Y. and E.D.I.T.H., as well as the villainous Ultron, voiced by James Spader.
The eight-episode series, created for television by Terry Matalas, features Mollica as Thomas Shepherd, a mysterious young man who may be connected to Vision’s family
The character of Vision, though a specialized artificial humanoid, was shown to be a reasonable machine with the quality of empathy for humanity and seeing grace in their failings.
Asked whether he believes AI will be as empathetic as Vision in future, Bettany said he has no idea, which also makes him anxious.
“I think that human beings are just very inefficient. And it’s one of the things that is great about them. Art is inefficient. Children don’t become useful until they’re older. There’s years where they’re inefficient.
“And that worries me because inefficiency seems to be the thing that AI would want to get rid of. But also, I want to say just a clarifying thing, which is that we’re just stupid actors that really shouldn’t be answering (these) questions. I dress up as other people for a living. I’m not talented enough to make the clothes that I wear in the films,” he quipped.
Mollica said if there is one thing that he would want people to learn from the show, it would be “the importance of what it means to be human”.
“VisionQuest”, which is available for streaming in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, also features Todd Stashwick, T’Nia Miller, Lauren Morais, Orla Brady, Diane Morgan, Polly Frame, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Emily Hampshire, and James D’Arcy.
(PTI News)
