Sunny Hostin received pushback from her co-hosts on The View as she defended the use of AI in Hollywood.
Hostin, who recently licensed her name and likeness to AI company Fountain 0, argued that generative AI should be considered a “new art form,” noting that it can help the entertainment industry show more Black and Brown representation.
“I partnered with this company because I’ve written a trilogy, and for six years I’ve tried to get my films or my stories made into series and films, and the gatekeeping in Hollywood around Black and Brown creative content is insane,” the former prosecutor said. “I cannot get New York Times best-selling books onto the screen to tell diverse stories to diverse communities.”
She continued, “With AI, that cuts out the gatekeeping. You get to make your film. You get to have a director … It’s a way to go to a streamer and say, ‘Here’s the product. Will you license it? Will you show it?’ It’s a way, I think, to get Black and Brown stories told.”
Joy Behar noted that with AI, “real people are not working,” and Hostin added, “The real people are not getting jobs in Hollywood. Black and Brown actors are not getting the jobs.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin jumped on Behar’s point and said, “I worry you’re closing the doors to those roles being played by Black and Brown actors and being replaced by AI.”
“That would be great if the studios would not gatekeep and allow the stories to be told,” Hostin replied.
Griffin also said generative AI is “pulling from intellectual property of all the existing actors out there,” and they aren’t getting residuals for it.
One thing that’s for sure is that the AI “train has left the station,” as Hostin said, who added, “This is something that’s here. It’s not going away, and I think that there are going to be enormous benefits.”
Ana Navarro asked Hostin whether she felt any ethical issues with working with an AI company, and Hostin said she “thought about it a lot” before signing away her likeness.
“I think that diverse stories need to be told,” Hostin said before Behar interjected to say, “We’ve said that already. I’m saying that those same people that you’re worried about are now out of work.”
Hostin defended that point, saying, “I’m not the person putting them out of work because the studios just won’t make these projects.”
Behar then said, “Force them to do it rather than have a robot replace Black people in movies.”
Hostin closed out the topic, saying, “I don’t think it’s ever going to take away the arts. I think it’s a different art form.”
Watch the full exchange from The View in the video below.
