Cate Blanchett, among her litany of talents and accolades, is aware she’s not the savviest when it comes to technology. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand when technology begets a problem, particularly when it comes to AI.
“I know next to nothing about technology,” she told Variety in an interview last week. “But I know a problem or a challenge when I see one.”
Blanchett has been outspoken about the issues arising from AI, and last week, she gave a presentation on the Human Consent Registry at the European Parliament. The registry is a free public utility tool that lets people create a record of how their name and likeness may be used by AI. The tool was created by RSL Media, a non-profit cofounded by Blanchett that launched last month, and its purpose is centered on the belief that your identity is your intellectual property, and every person should be able to dictate what can — and cannot — be scraped by AI models.
“The challenge is [AI models] just keep splintering and breeding at such a rate, so I think we all feel a bit bamboozled by which part to tackle first,“ Blanchett said. “What I loved about what RSL Media were doing and why I wanted to come on board is they were offering a really simple not-to-profit open standard, a solution, that people can go in when they’re negotiating with whoever.”
