Cara Buono Foresees AI "Tsunami" in Entertainment, Advocates for Stronger Actor Protections

Los Angeles, CA – Actress Cara Buono, known for her role as Karen Wheeler in Netflix's hit series Stranger Things, has voiced significant concerns regarding the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into the television and film industry. In a recent interview for the Superintelligence newsletter, Buono described AI's rise as a "tsunami" set to dramatically reshape the creative landscape, emphasizing the urgent need for robust protections for performers.

Buono, whose character appears in the recently released fifth and final season of Stranger Things, noted her early awareness of AI's impending impact. "I saw an AI tsunami coming years before most people understood it," she stated in the interview, recalling her experience with "scanning trucks" on set to capture her likeness. She highlighted that while initially presented for practical uses like continuity and VFX, the implications for digital doubles and AI replicas are now far more profound.

The Emmy-nominated actress stressed that while AI offers creative possibilities, it poses an an "existential threat" to human creativity and labor. "The only reason the technology can mimic a writer or an actor or a director is because it has vacuumed up all the work we’ve ever done," Buono explained. She argued that replacing human artists with AI tools, built upon their past work, is inherently hypocritical and undermines the very essence of storytelling.

A central point of Buono's advocacy is the mandatory requirement for informed consent and fair compensation for actors whose images or voices are used by AI. She pointed out that background actors and younger performers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. "Everyone deserves to know how their image is being captured, stored, and potentially used," she asserted, drawing parallels to how tech companies fiercely protect their own intellectual property.

Buono remains cautiously optimistic about AI's potential to support human creativity, such as in safer stunt planning or faster pre-visualization. However, she firmly believes that the "human element" is irreplaceable. "AI can mimic patterns, but it can’t understand an actor’s intention or interpretation of a script," she said, underscoring that the emotional nuance and shared human connection in storytelling cannot be engineered by machines.