Feb 20, 2026 3:05pm IST
‘Best A.I. Actor’ Might Become Another Category At Oscars, Warns Matthew McConaughey
There, you have it. One of Hollywood’s own has now said it. In a recent Variety & CNN townhall event, actor Matthew McConaughey, in conversation with actor Timothée Chalamet, admitted that A.I. might become a legit category at the Oscars, maybe five years from now.
He said during the course of the interview, “It’s damn sure going to infiltrate our category. Will we be, in five years, having ‘the best AI film’? ‘The best AI actor?' Maybe. I think that might be the thing; it becomes another category. It’s gonna be in front of us in ways that we don’t even see. It’s going to get so good we’re not going to know the difference. That’s one of the big questions right now: the question of reality. It’s more hazy than ever — in a very exciting way, I think, but also a scary way. Prep for it. Own your own lane, so you at least have agency when it starts to trespass.”
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While admitting that the progress of AI is exciting but also scary, McConaughey shared, “It’s already here. It’s coming. Don’t deny it. It’s not enough. It’s not going to be enough to sit on the sidelines and make the moral plea. The moral plea, no, this is wrong… it’s not going to last…There’s too much money to be made; it’s too productive. It’s here, all right? I say, get your own, own yourself. Your voice, likeness, etcetera. Own yourself. Trademark it. So, when it comes, not if it comes, no one can steal you. They have to come to you to go ‘can I?’”
Timothée Chalamet for his part, had this to say, “I’m fiercely protective of actors and artists in this industry. And equally, whatever tide is coming, it’s coming.”
Recently, Hollywood was outraged over a 15-second video clip that showed Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt spar on a rooftop. It was uploaded by Oscar-nominated Irish director Ruairi Robinson, created entirely by AI but hardly distinguishable from clips shot in studios. Sharing the video, Robinson noted that all it took to create his film was a two-line instruction in Seedance 2.0, which is owned by ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of Tiktok.
With McConnaughey's take on the matter, maybe it’s an admission of acknowledging the reality of A.I. and how co-existence and not confrontation will be the way to go.
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