Why Is a Bitcoin Biopic Planning to Use Generative AI?

There’s a sizable amount of evidence that audiences and critics alike enjoy well-made films set in the tech world. In the last 15 years, movies like The Social Network, BlackBerry and Tetris have all garnered positive reviews alongside high marks from viewers. It isn’t surprising to see that a group of high-profile filmmakers is working on a project about Bitcoin and its founder Satoshi Nakamoto. What is surprising, though, is why those filmmakers have stated their intent to use AI for the project in a way that could turn off numerous potential viewers before the film is even completed.

As K.J. Yossman reports at Variety, a casting notice seeking actors to appear in the film includes some ominous language, including that producers can modify actors’ performances using “generative artificial intelligence (GAI) and/or machine learning technologies.” The notice also advises interested actors that the film will be shot on a “markerless performative capture stage and not in any locations.”

The project will be directed by Doug Liman, and stars Casey Affleck and Pete Davidson. Its producer, Ryan Kavanaugh, told Variety that the production viewed those tools as a way to expand existing work rather than replacing actors or crew members. “AI is a tool we’re using to make the filmmaking process more efficient while maintaining all department heads’ jobs, all actor jobs and hopefully helping to grow the industry in a positive way,” he said.

There’s a bigger question afoot here, and that’s quite simply: why? Films ranging from Late Night With the Devil to The Brutalist faced backlash for much more minor use of AI when they first appeared. Perhaps the thinking is that, hey, people still watched those films. But given the talent of the people involved — Liman is a reliably good director, Davidson has a solid screen record and Affleck — despite troubling reports of his offscreen behavior — has rarely, if ever, given a bad performance.

There are plenty of cases of filmmakers whose work after production ends radically changed a performance that long predate any kind of AI existing. Again, it isn’t clear why this particular film needs to jettison decades’ worth of industry knowledge.

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Also disquieting — though not, perhaps, as unsettling as the reports about generative AI — is the use of computer-generated locations. This is a practice often used in big-budget films set in fantastical locations, from the Star Wars trilogy to the pioneering work done in the pulp action film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. (A recent episode of Podcast Like It’s… made an excellent case for the latter film’s importance in cinematic history.)

Perhaps the reasons for this will be more clear when the film is completed. After all, this is a film that takes its title — Killing Satoshi — from the pseudonym of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. But for now, it feels like a misstep as opposed to a way to generate hype.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…