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Adrien Brody, who retained his title as the youngest male actor to win an Oscar, is surely not keeping the favor of long-time fans. The recent revelation of the use of AI in his film, “The Brutalist,” has called to question how far society is willing to let AI take over, especially in an industry already threatened by the technology.

 

Few people are strangers to ChatGPT or other Artificial Intelligence platforms. These days, most individuals have experimented with it or in some cases have been encouraged to use it in order to better shape their work, specifically academic work. However, with disciplines such as art, is it truly necessary?

 

When it comes to visual art such as drawings, paintings or photographs, a debate has sparked on whether this shift in the art culture can be beneficial. Artists are scared that it not only impedes on their creativity if art can be generated, but also the validity of their earned education. 

 

AI has threatened the world of visual art but it is going as far as stretching to performing arts. Vocal performances have been affected, which has felt so intrusive to some that singers like Celine Dion have asked these AI-generated performances to stop. 

 

Adrien Brody, also called “Ai-drien”  by some online, was revealed to have used AI in order to tweak his Hungarian accent for the film “The Brutalist.” The film is about an architect who comes to America in search of a better life. Brody and his co-star Felicity Jones, who speak with Hungarian accents in the film and also speak the language a handful of times, had their accents tweaked. A Ukrainian Artificial Intelligence model called Respeecher was used to make their voices sound more authentic. The tool used native-Hungarian speakers’ voices and applied it to certain lines of Brody and Jones. 

 

The defense of this AI use is that it did not take away from his performance, but it certainly enhanced it. However, other nominees in Brody’s category had vastly different approaches to solidifying their accents and mannerisms: Timothee Chalamet spent 6 years of his life taking vocal lessons and studying Bob Dylan in order to hammer down his mannerisms for the film “A Complete Unknown.”

 

Fellow Oscar-winner Mickey Madison for “Anora” as Best Actress had taken extensive dance classes to physically prepare for her role. Alongside that prep work, she also had to master a specific accent for the role. Madison spoke of perfecting her New York accent by going to Russian neighborhoods in Brighton Beach, New York and even stepping into spaces where she could use the accent authentically. In addition to the accent, Madison had to learn to mimic a sex worker’s mannerisms for her role.

 

This is not to say that Adrien Brody didn’t dedicate sufficient work for his role, but if other contestants in the very same category can go the extra mile, shouldn’t the award go to them? While “best” is entirely subjective, it does seem discouraging for other artists who put their time and effort into their roles. The question remains, how far are we willing to utilize AI?