Tom Cruise gets six-minute applause as he continues to debate AI's effect on Hollywood

Tom Cruise has weighed in on the AI in film debate, saying that while there’s no way of avoiding it, audiences still want to watch “real things” on the screen.

At a BAFTA: Life in Pictures event in London, at which he discussed his career to date, Tom was asked the “AI question” by host Edith Bowman as she questioned what he thought about artificial intelligence’s impact on movies.

He’s no stranger to it, either, with the villain in the last two Mission: Impossible movies being an AI that’s gone rogue.

Tom responded with a monologue which continued for an incredible six minutes, as he began: “Here’s the thing: There is nothing like human.

“I have nothing against streaming or anything like that. [But] people want that experience. They’re going to movie theatres. I always believe in humanity.”

He concluded by stating that creatives must “keep creating” despite the increase in using AI, as he said: “You know, it is coming and it’s going to happen.

“But people want to see real things.”

Tom also used the occasion to plug his upcoming movie Digger, in which he plays a wealthy oil tycoon, and looks unrecognisable in a fat suit which took six hours to apply.

As for what attracted him to Digger in the first place, Tom replied: “I’ve never read a movie like this. It’s the most original film and one of the most moving films I’ve ever seen.”

At the end of the event, Tom received an incredible six minute applause from those in the audience.

Tom previously joined SAG-AFTRA negotiations about AI back in June this year, as he became part of the union’s plea to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to put in new guidelines around the use of generative AI in film and television.

Those involved in the negotiations have asked the alliance to introduce rules that those recreated by AI are properly compensated.