Trending badgeTrendingPosted 1 hour agoPeople Are Once Again Realizing Just How Smart Ben Affleck Is After He Perfectly Articulated The Reality Of AI In Hollywood"Honestly everytime Ben affleck talks the weird realization is that he's not stupid."by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink Every once in a while, the internet is left genuinely surprised to learn just how intelligent and well-informed Ben Affleck is, and sure as the sun will rise, 2026's moment has arrived. Arturo Holmes / Getty Images For reference, Ben remains the youngest ever winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, which he won back in 1998 for his and his best friend Matt Damon's critically acclaimed movie Good Will Hunting. Ben was just 25 years old at the time, and Matt was 27 - the second youngest winner after Ben. Bob Riha Jr / Getty Images The two men famously wrote the seriously impressive script when they were struggling actors living together in Boston, and this was the movie that ended up catapulting them both to global superstardom - and Ben's smarts have been on display ever since. Mitchell Gerber / Getty Images For example, in 2003, Ben was asked about his thoughts on the future of movies and technology - and he correctly predicted that subscription-based apps for movies and music would eventually surface. Chris Weeks / Getty Images In a 23-year-old video that has aged incredibly well, Ben said: "I think some annual subscription-based system is one that works. You have the music business, a 3.4 billion-dollar-a-year business, which is largely about 1.7 million people in the country spending $200 a year. That same people would spend $200 each year to have access to basically the entire library of existing music." X @tbputera / X @jorilallo / CNBC / Via x.com "I believe that paradigm is the most effective," he continued. "It'll be movies-on-demand, but it'll be a tiered structure. If you want to watch it first weekend, maybe it won't be available first weekend, but then, if you want to watch it, you'll pay more. Then, as it goes to another stage of its release, it'll become less expensive." Gregg Deguire / Getty Images "There's a lot more adoption that has to happen, technologically speaking, right now before people can watch movies [on demand] in terms of PC, web connection," Ben concluded at the time. "The technology is not quite there yet, but it will be, I'll say, within the next five years."Reminds me of this video of Ben Aflleck predicting movie/music subscription based apps pic.twitter.com/ABOv5s2D65 https://t.co/h1StzTlXon- ᴛᴜʙᴀɢᴜsᴛᴜʙɪᴛʀᴜ (@tbputera) November 18, 2024 X @tbputera / X @jorilallo / CNBC / Via Twitter: @tbputera For reference, Netflix did not launch until four years after Ben made these comments - with Spotify launching in select European countries another year after that. Stockcam / Getty Images More recently, in November 2024, Ben was asked about AI when speaking with CNBC at the Delivering Alpha 2024 investor summit. Specifically, Ben was asked if it'd become possible for Netflix to make a movie out of "a bunch of actors that are completely recreated." Bellocqimages / Getty Images Without a moment's hesitation, the star launched into a lengthy and impassioned speech that detailed exactly why this is unlikely to happen any time soon. He began: "A. That's not possible now, B. Will it be possible in the future? Highly unlikely. C. The movies will be one of the last things, if everything gets replaced, to be replaced by AI." CNBC / Via x.com "AI can write you excellent imitative verse that sounds Elizabethan, it cannot write you Shakespeare," he explained. "The function of having two actors or three or four actors in a room, and the taste to discern and construct something, that currently entirely alludes AI's capability, and I think it will for a meaningful period of time." Jerod Harris / Getty Images Ben went on to detail the positive side of AI in filmmaking, explaining: "What AI is going to do is disintermediate the more laborious, less creative, and, you know, more costly aspects of filmmaking that will allow cost to be brought down. That will lower the barrier to entry that will allow more voices to be heard. That will make it easier for the people who want to make Good Will Huntings to go out and make it." Hal Garb / Getty Images "Look, AI is a craftsman at best," he said. "A craftsman can learn how to make Stickley furniture by sitting down next to somebody and seeing what their technique is and imitating... Craftsmanship is knowing how to work, art is knowing when to stop. I think knowing when to stop is going to be a very difficult thing for AI to learn because it's taste. Also; lack of consistency, lack of controls, lack of quality."Didn't expect Ben Affleck to have the most articulate and realistic explanation where video models and Hollywood is going pic.twitter.com/MCgkVqpPNG- Jori Lallo (@jorilallo) November 17, 2024 CNBC / Via Twitter: @jorilallo Ben even acknowledged that s