Mark Wahlberg Backs AI in Filmmaking, Says He'd Allow a Digital Clone of Himself
The actor and investor says AI belongs in film production as an enhancement tool, and he's open to a digital version of himself carrying on his work.
Mark Wahlberg has added his name to the growing list of screen talent willing to work with artificial intelligence rather than against it. The actor and angel investor said he supports AI in filmmaking when it is used to enhance what a production is already doing, and that he is open to an AI clone of himself continuing his work down the line. His comments, first reported by TechCrunch, put him at odds with performers who have pushed for stricter limits on synthetic replicas.
Wahlberg's position rests on a distinction the industry keeps returning to: AI as a tool versus AI as a replacement. Enhancing a performance, a set, or a post-production workflow is one thing; generating a new performance from a scan of an actor's face and voice is another. Wahlberg said he is comfortable with the first and, notably, with the second in his own case, a stance that gives studios a prominent name to point to as the debate over digital doubles grinds on.
He is not speaking purely as a performer. Wahlberg has spent years as an angel investor and has backed consumer and technology companies, which gives his view more weight in boardroom conversations about where production budgets go. That dual role matters because the fight over AI in film is as much a labor and contract question as a creative one, and talent with capital behind them tend to get heard.
His remarks land against a backdrop of hard bargaining. SAG-AFTRA's 2023 strike produced contract language requiring consent and compensation when digital replicas are used, and those terms remain a live issue as the union and studios revisit them. Some actors have embraced cloning clauses, seeing a way to extend a career or license a likeness for specific projects; others have refused outright, warning that a one-time scan can become permanent leverage for an employer.
For the AI industry, the film business is a useful test case because the stakes are visible and the rules are being written in public. Tools for de-aging, voice synthesis, background generation, and fully synthetic performers are already in use across streaming and studio productions, and each new endorsement from a recognizable name nudges the norm further toward acceptance. Wahlberg's willingness to be cloned, in particular, signals that the objection is no longer about whether the technology works.
What to watch is whether more A-list talent follows with explicit cloning terms of their own, and how unions price those rights in the next round of contracts. The open question is consent at scale: a single actor can negotiate a replica clause, but thousands of background performers and lesser-known crew cannot bargain the same way. Wahlberg's answer covers Wahlberg. It does not settle the industry's.