Reese Witherspoon told fans to learn AI, authors are slamming her
Reese Witherspoon is hype AI againand American authors have just a few ideas.
The Oscar-winning actor and producer, known for spotlighting women’s voices through her famed book club, television and screen projectscould have been barking up the improper tree when she told her social media followers that it was time to learn AI on Wednesday.
“Well…I’ve decided it’s TIME,” she wrote within the caption of an Instagram reel on Wednesday. “The AI revolution has begun, and I need to learn as much as I possibly can about AI and share it with all of you. Also, FYI: the jobs women hold are 3x more likely to be automated by AI, yet women are using AI at a rate 25% lower than men on average. We don’t want to be left behind. So…do you want to learn with me?”
In the video, which the star shared throughout social media platforms, Witherspoon mentioned she was with 10 ladies at a e book membership this week. “I said to the 10 of them, ‘How many of you guys use AI?’ And only three of them used AI. And then I said, ‘How many of the three of you feel like you really know what you’re doing or using it the right way?’ And there was only one person,” she said.
“So, if three out of 10 ladies are the one ones utilizing AI, meaning 70% of that group just isn’t maintaining. The factor I’ve discovered about expertise is that if you aren’t getting a bit of little bit of understanding from the very starting, it simply speeds previous you. So you’ve got to have little bits of studying simply to sustain.”
The “Big Little Lies” star then seemingly put out a feeler for an AI learning course saying, “I think we should learn the basics together and learn some really good tools that are going to make our everyday lives easier and better. Do you want me to share what I’m learning with you?”
While there were plenty of comments from fans and stars hyping up Witherspoon’s sentiment — Former co-stars Ali Larter mentioned “Yes yes yes!” and Kerry Washington mentioned “THIS” — lots of the replies referred to as the actor out, citing environmental, economical, social, educational and intellectual concerns, among others.
One group that was especially vocal in their opposition to AI, was the literary community, and writers and authors across the country didn’t hold back when sharing their two cents.
Bestselling “Bad Feminist” author Roxane Gay chimed in on Threads, writing, “Oh Reese. Absolutely not.”
“This is clearly a scripted advert and it is genuinely infuriating. Notice how AI’s greatest defenders are those cashing checks from it,” wrote screenwriter and director Charlene Bagcal on Threads. “AI is not inevitable. Technology follows society. If folks cease utilizing it, it dies. We nonetheless have company.”
“Jagged Little Pill” author and literary agent Eric Smith weighed in, “As someone who champions authors and books the way you do, this is so disappointing.”
“AI plagiarized all my books. It appears unlikely that I’ll be ‘left behind’ if I do not use it, on condition that it is skilled on work I did years in the past,” wrote “Get Well Soon” author Jennifer Wright.
Writer and actor Rati Gupta said, “How am *I* the one being “left behind” by not using AI when *my* cognitive function will remain fully intact and uncompromised?”
And Sophia Benoit posted, “There’s something particularly insidious about seeing that women—the group you have built your brand on—have not adopted something and instead of assuming it’s out of wisdom, infantalizing them with ‘we’re falling behind.’”
In 2021, Witherspoon’s company, Hello Sunshine, partnered with World of Women (WoW), an NFT collective, and the actor similarly caught flak from followers for tweeting “In the (close to) future, each individual may have a parallel digital id. Avatars, crypto wallets, digital items would be the norm. Are you planning for this?”
Representatives for Witherspoon haven’t responded to the Times request for remark.
