RISKY BUSINESS

Tom Cruise Pushed Hollywood Studios to Listen to Union Fears on AI: Report

The star, whose new “Mission: Impossible” entry features a villainous AI, asked the studios to hear out SAG-AFTRA’s concerns on generative intelligence.

If there’s one man who’s proved he’ll go to any length for the movies, it’s Tom Cruise. Last month, he tried once again to do just that, reportedly popping into a negotiating session between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains on behalf of Hollywood’s studios, and the industry’s largest union, SAG-AFTRA. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cruise appeared over Zoom to lobby AMPTP on issues like artificial intelligence usage and stunt performers, urging it to hear out SAG-AFTRA’s concerns. The trade reported that “no other star of his caliber participated in the negotiations in this capacity.” The mission may have been accepted, but it seems it wasn’t quite accomplished; just five weeks later, contract negotiations broke down and more than 160,000 working actors went on strike alongside the writers’ guild.