Simu Liu takes a strong stand against the use of artificial intelligence to replace human actors, especially background performers.
The Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star recently responded to Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary’s comments suggesting that using AI instead of extras could reduce high production costs.
Liu was unimpressed by that idea, calling it both unfair and unattainable.
“Of course, blame the extras who make $15 to $22 an hour and struggle to make a living, not the people who make multiple millions,” Liu wrote on X, in response to O’Leary’s claim about cutting film budgets.
During an interview with Term on Monday while promoting his upcoming Netflix animated film In your dreamsLiu explained why he felt so strongly about championing background actors and the value they bring to film sets.
“First of all, I thought the recording I was reacting to was a really stupid recording, just really tone-deaf and unwatchable and also just a bit inaccurate,” he said.
“The idea that these background actors making minimum wage are somehow the reason why movies cost too much now, that’s just not true.”
Liu’s passion for the subject comes from personal experience. Before he got a major role, he started out as a background actor himself Pacific Rim shortly after he lost his accounting job.
That early opportunity, he said, helped him understand the filmmaking process from the ground up.
“This idea of replacing actors with AI is so at odds with my development as an actor,” Liu explains.
“I think if I could learn from that experience, how many other people are doing the same? By depriving the world of background actors, you’re also depriving people of the opportunity to pick up these skills in some way.”
For Liu, the issue goes beyond budgets, it’s about preserving the human element of art.
“Film is such an artist’s medium. Of all the applications of AI that have emerged, replacing art in my opinion is simply the last thing anyone wants to do with AI,” he said.
“I feel like art is art because it’s human. It even comes down to the way extras move… it all plays into the frame and it’s all meaningful to the story.”
He also believes that audiences can instinctively tell when something doesn’t feel right.
“I really feel like people are smart. I feel like if we see someone in the background who isn’t moving like a human being, we know it. I feel like we can still tell the difference, at least now.”
Liu is not alone in this attitude.
Are Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro recently made headlines for expressing similar frustrations over the use of AI in creative work, saying he would “rather die” than use it in his films.
While the debate over AI’s place in Hollywood continues, Liu’s message remains clear: storytelling must always remain human at its core.
