Raymond Lee, The protagonist of the series ‘How Much Leap’ science fiction series that just premiered its second season on SYFY and also on demand on Universal+, has confessed to feeling “terrified” at the unstoppable advance of Artificial Intelligence. “We just have to hope that there are people to control it, because I can already see that people are going to lose their jobs.“he confesses.
The actor highlighted his concern about the use of AI in the audiovisual industry, where actors and scriptwriters reached agreements with studios last 2023 to regularize its use. “It can be a problem for the scriptwriters. And I fear for the actors and the way they are going to be used“, he states in an interview given to Europa Press during the presentation of the series at Comic Con Portugal.
“If you are not an already big actor who can hire lawyers to control you, if you are an emerging actor, your image can be used everywhere. It’s here. You watch Sora and you can see how quickly they can create a five-minute clip and how good it looks,” she exemplifies.
The interpreter assures that he likes to listen to experts and businessmen like Mark Cuban to better understand the development of this technology. “It seems that we are approaching the moment of having to adopt Artificial Intelligence as part of our daily lives. So we can only hope that the people who have control are trying to stop its development so that it does not exceed our understanding,” he explains.
“Ultimately, I still think that humans should have control over AI and that AI should simply be a tool. But if they learn by themselves, like they say they do, then it’s pretty scary.. Every week all these movies about the end of the world or the end of human civilization invaded by robots are released for a reason. So I think it’s a legitimately scary thing. I am terrified“Lee acknowledges.
THE POWER OF NOSTALGIA
The protagonist of ‘How Much Leap’, a reboot of the 1989 series ‘Through Time’, also addresses other issues related to the industry. One of them is the exploitation by studios of characters and stories already known to the public. “When the situation seems unbalanced, unstable, we need things that are comfortable for us. I consider the nostalgia in these stories and these well-known names to be like your favorite food. You want to return to a world where you know what it feels like to see it“he reflects.
“In I find entertainment a great tool, but above all it is used as a form of escapism. Sometimes used for educational purposes. But if you want to escape somewhere, you want to escape to something that you know and that is comfortable for you. And what’s more comfortable than a franchise that you already know?“continues Lee, who also has roles in saga films such as ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.
“That’s why Marvel has been so great for so long. You know if you put on ‘The Avengers’ or ‘Iron Man,’ you think, ‘I know exactly what I’m going to get out of this. I’m going to laugh, it’s going to have action, it’s going to be cool. It’s going to be universe-building, world-building, and I’m going to go really deep into it,'” Lee adds. “We’re in a place where maybe we’ve had enough, but if it’s done right, it still makes me feel the same way.” things. So I’m on both sides,” he concludes, advocating the mix of original stories and nostalgia.
THE FUTURE IS IN DIVERSITY
Lee, an actor born in New York but of South Korean descent, says he is especially linked to productions and stories linked to the Asian nation or to those that, like the series, have racialized protagonists. “This is just getting started, and I say that because I know there’s an interest in specifically stitching together South Korean stories to be Korean-American stories. There is a genuine interest“, he confirms.
“Before there wasn’t, before in Korea it was something like: ‘Okay, whatever you do there doesn’t affect us.’ And we said: ‘Whatever you’re doing there, it will be whatever it is,'” he clarifies in reference to relations between South Korea and the emigrants who went to the United States. “But now that both sides have become so globally present, I think it would be stupid to ignore that the other exists.”“, he defends, citing the increase in diversity in cinema.
“Our voices are starting to get louder here, not just entertainment but politically as well. We have opinion leaders who are not afraid to speak and we have creatives in all fields such as fashion, music… And this is really rooted,” insists Lee, who celebrates the advances of the South Korean community on a social and cultural level far away. of its borders.
“So, personally, I think this is just the beginning. Currently, many bridges are being built from both sides. And I know this because I know Korean-American or Asian-American creatives in general who are working on their own personal projects and there is interest,” she says. ‘How Much Leap’ It airs every Monday on SYFY at 10:50 p.m. and, after each broadcast, the episodes are available on demand on Universal+ (via Movistar Plus+, Orange, Euskaltel, R and Telecable).