Nicolas Cage Refused to Sign an AI Waiver From Amazon

Nicolas Cage says he is unwilling to allow artificial intelligence to be used in his performances, revealing that he declined to sign an AI waiver while working on the Prime Video series Spider-Noir.

Speaking at New York Comic Con on Saturday, the 62-year-old actor criticized Amazon’s investment in AI and questioned how performers can maintain their place in an industry undergoing rapid technological change.

“Amazon is a very AI-friendly company, to the tune of $50 billion invested in OpenAI,” Cage says, per Variety.

“I am not an AI-friendly actor, so it’s like, connect those dots! I’m not a member of their club. I didn’t sign the waiver to let him use AI on Spider-Noir. I’m probably not going to be working with that studio again, but that’s okay.”

Cage says he is still trying to understand how actors could adapt to an entertainment industry increasingly shaped by new technology.

“I’m trying to find a way of surviving with film performance in a very different world that is growing exponentially with so much information, so quickly,” the actor says.

“How can you become relevant as things are moving so fast? So, I’m still looking for that and I don’t really have an exact answer.”

The use of AI remains a contentious issue in Hollywood, with performers and writers raising concerns about its potential effects on their work. Industry unions, including SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America, have negotiated contractual protections addressing the technology. The emergence of AI-generated performers like Tilly Norwood has added to questions about how the industry will manage its use.

Keanu Reeves revealed in 2023 that he has a clause in every one of his film contracts that bans studios from digitally editing his performances.

“What’s frustrating about that is you lose your agency. When you give a performance in a film, you know you’re going to be edited, but you’re participating in that,” Reeves said at the time.

“If you go into deepfake land, it has none of your points of view. That’s scary. It’s going to be interesting to see how humans deal with these technologies.”

Actors like Ian Holm and Val Kilmer have been controversially resurrected from the dead with AI technology.

In his comments on Saturday, Cage praised Generation Z director Kane Parsons for his work on Backrooms. Parsons shuns generative AI, saying the technology has “genuinely harmful consequences.”

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