Tom Cruise used a BAFTA tribute event in London on Monday to deliver an unplanned six-minute defense of human craftsmanship in filmmaking, telling the audience that artificial intelligence “is coming, and it’s going to happen” while insisting that audiences will keep choosing what’s real.
Moderator Edith Bowman raised what she called “the AI question” during a “Life in Pictures” conversation built around Cruise’s career and his upcoming film “Digger.” Cruise answered simply at first — “There is nothing like human” — before expanding into an extended monologue that drew applause from what organizers described as a reserved crowd. He pointed to a strong summer at the box office, including turnout from younger moviegoers, as evidence that “people want to see real things.” He also offered the audience a broader principle: “What you put attention on, you give life,” framing the industry’s next moves as a choice about which skills survive.
Cruise stopped short of condemning the technology outright, according to accounts of the appearance. His remarks centered on preserving the people behind the camera rather than rejecting every digital tool, a distinction that tracks with his history on the issue. During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, he lobbied for contract protections tied to AI use, and his recent films have doubled down on tangible spectacle: “Top Gun: Maverick” built its identity on practical stunt flying, and the “Mission: Impossible” series escalated its physical stunt work with each sequel, even while casting a rogue artificial intelligence as its central antagonist.
His comments land amid a Hollywood split that has hardened this year. Steven Spielberg has said he won’t let AI take the creative chair on his films, while directors including Gareth Edwards and Peter Jackson have embraced generative tools as instruments they compare to the camera itself or to the practical effects that built earlier blockbusters. James Cameron has floated AI’s potential to cut production budgets, and Reese Witherspoon has urged more women to engage with the technology rather than resist it.
Cruise also used the London appearance to discuss “Digger,” in which he plays an oil baron confronting a disaster of his own making, calling it among the most original films of his career. He described spending two nights having director Alejandro González Iñárritu read him the script before signing on. The film opens internationally on Sept. 30 and in North American theaters on Oct. 2.
