Matthew McConaughey is concerned about the threat AI poses to the movie industry, believing that the technology will “infiltrate” the Oscars, resulting in categories for “best AI film,” and “best AI actor.”
Matthew McConaughey is endeavouring to get in front of the AI revolution, via legal means, and by speaking out about what’s potentially ahead.
In December 2025, the actor secured eight trademarks from the US Patent and Trademark Office to protect his voice and likeness from unauthorized AI misuse.
And now he’s advising other actors to “own your own lane,” or risk industry-wide infiltration.
Matthew McConaughey tells Timothée Chalamet to “own yourself”
During a town hall hosted by Variety and CNN – in which McConaughey was in conversation with Timothée Chalamet – the actor expressed his fears about the future.
“It’s already here,” McConaughey told his Interstellar co-star. “Don’t deny it. It’s not going to be enough to sit on the sidelines and make the moral plea that, ‘No, this is wrong.’ It’s not gonna last. There’s too much money to be made, and it’s too productive. It’s here!
“So I say: ‘Own yourself.’ Voice, likeness, etc. Trademark it. Whatever you gotta do… so when it comes, no one can steal you.”
McConaughey believes that if you don’t take those legal steps, “They’re gonna come to you and go, ‘Timothée, I’d like you to be at my 50th birthday party in five months, and I’m gonna be in the Bahamas. I know you can’t be there in person, but I’m gonna halo you in and I want you as your character in Marty Supreme.
“They can do that, but they’re gonna have to come to you to go, ‘Can I?’ Or they’re going to be in breach.”
Fears over an Oscar invasion
Tha actor also believes that the Academy Awards will soon be a victim of AI, claiming: “It’s damn sure going to infiltrate our category. Does it become another category? Will we be – in five years – having the best AI film? The best AI actor?
“It’s gonna be in front of us in ways that we don’t even see. It’s going to get so we’re not gonna 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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