Tom Hanks calls AI replacing him 'a scary thought' and Hollywood should probably listen

Date:
Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:56:03 +0000

Description:
Tom Hanks' warning that AI replacing him is "a scary thought" highlights the debate over AI and filmmaking

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Woody the toy cowboy has faced
a lot of frightening moments over the course of five Toy Story movies, but
the actor voicing him for the last 30 years is trepidatious over the possibility that AI will supplant him. Tom Hanks told Entertainment Weekly in a new interview that the idea of AI replacing his voice is "a scary thought."

"Time is undefeated," Hanks said. "The question would be whether or not we could cobble together some version of me. Every word we have ever recorded in time in Toy Story is on digital media somewhere, so they could put together anything they would want." Debates about AI in movies and film are raging
even as the technology is deployed to reproduce the voices and complete performances of people who have passed away. Not to mention fully
AI-generated films that otherwise employ human voice actors. Latest Videos From Watch full video here: AI acting Most entertainment projects with AI so far have generally involved the participation or approval of the performers themselves, but they also demonstrate how quickly the technology has matured. What once required painstaking effects work can increasingly be achieved with sophisticated machine learning models trained on years of existing material.

Hanks has himself been in AI-assisted productions, specifically in the film Here, which relied on AI to de-age him and co-star Robin Wright for part of the film rather than depending entirely on traditional visual effects. You
may like I watched a 90-minute AI movie and Hollywood can stop worrying,
for now Watch the AI-recreated Val Kilmer's performance in a new movie
trailer Masters of the Universe director has his say on AI use in the entertainment industry

Hanks' concerns extend beyond his own career. He has elsewhere suggested that his biggest worry is whether audiences will eventually stop caring whether a performance comes from a human being at all, not trusting that what they see isn't produced with AI. That feels like a more unsettling question than whether Woody could return without Hanks. Future films (Image credit: Disney Pixar) There's a little irony in Hanks' comments. The original Toy Story was
a technological revolution that some saw as a threat to traditional
hand-drawn animation. Three decades later, one of the stars who helped usher in that revolution is looking at the next wave of technology with understandable caution. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your
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Caution doesn't mean dismissal of AI, of course. Hanks is known for being
part of projects using advanced tools like motion capture, digital
filmmaking, and experimental visual effects throughout his career. His
concern seems more about what gets lost when technology starts replacing the people audiences are connected with in the first place.

And while each individual use of AI can be justified as another filmmaking tool, there's still a larger question about where AI assistance ends, and replacement begins. The answer will probably depend on what audiences decide they value rather than purely technical capabilities. Movie stars are more than collections of facial expressions and vocal recordings, and recreating the performance that audiences associate with Woody, that's more than just "good enough," would be a tall order. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. The best business laptops for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/tom-hanks-calls-ai-replacing -him-a-scary-thought-and-hollywood-should-probably-listen


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