Star Trek's William Shatner isn't as against AI as you would hope

Most people are against the idea of artificial intelligence being as widely used and relied upon as it is. It's something many scientists have raised alarm bells about for years. It's become such a pervasive idea that it's even started to sink into the realm of art and entertainment. The debate that was once segmented to the idea of running power grids and the like has now bled over to the ethics of using AI to make illustrations comics or bringing back the dead for comedy acts.

We've already seen it in Hollywood. Producers used AI to bring back the long-dead Peter Cushing for Star Wars: Rogue One, and they did something eerily similar for Carrie Fisher in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker after she passed away. And that was when the technology was more expensive. Now that's a lot more affordable, there have been attempts to use it more and more in movies and shows to reduce production costs and in turn, cut people out of jobs.

It's a hot-button issue, one that doesn't just involve the talent on screen, but those writing the scripts. AI can now write full scripts by plagiarizing works that already exist and attempting to create a brand new story from others' words.

You would think that just about everyone is against using it at this point, but that's not the case. William Shatner, Star Trek icon, is very open to the idea of someone using it to recreate his version of James Kirk.

Just as long as he's dead. Shatner told ComicBook.com that he'd be fine with his family cashing in on his likeness, just as long as he's dead;

“It’s an interesting question. The strike was all about getting permission to do that. And so if I’m alive, I don’t want AI to do that, but if I’m dead and they ask my family and they’re going to pay my family very well to sound like me, I would advise them to say yes.”

Which to me is even worse. A role shouldn't belong to any one person, and it should go to different people as that person ages out of the role. The idea you could own the likeness of someone as a character for decades, and use the character to do anything you want without the say of the person whose likeness you're using is gross. It's a dehumanizing experience and one that shouldn't be allowed.