‘Batman’ and ‘Robin’: TIME names two Hollywood actors among its top voices on AI for 2026

Two popular Hollywood names – interestingly known for playing Batman and Robin – have been named among the top voices when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI). TIME has named Ben Affleck, who played Batman from 2016 to 2023, and Joseph Gordon Levitt, who played Robin in The Dark Knight Rises, as two of the most important voices when it comes to AI.

So, what do two Hollywood actors have to do with AI?

Ben Affleck founded the company InterPositive in 2022 to help filmmakers ease up their postproduction process by taking on some of the labour-intensive and costly tasks. This could potentially release the barrier that makes entry into filmmaking a difficult task.

MUST READ | Elon Musk says AI could become superhuman by 2027, perform almost anything in the digital world

As per TIME, Affleck does not worry about AI taking his job – making him one of the few people in the world to believe so – he does, however, have concerns about how AI is used within the industry and whether there are appropriate guardrails.

Affleck’s InterPositive was sold to Netflix for $587 million. Netflix also brought aboard the company’s 16-member team of engineers, researchers and creatives, as well as Affleck who joined the streaming platform as a senior adviser.

The company’s tools allow filmmakers to build an AI model using production dailies to help in mixing, relighting shots, adding visual effects etc.

DON'T MISS | OpenAI is buying thousands of Apple Mac Minis to train AI agents: Here’s what’s driving the move

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s contribution is more on the humanities side, and is more concerned about how AI will affect storytelling. He founded Creators Coalition on AI in December 2025 – it has since been signed by Ben Affleck too – with signatories such as Natasha Lyonne, Daniel Kwan, Cate Blanchett, Margot Robbie and Octavia Spencer.

He said he isn’t against the development of technology itself and sees the potential for AI to empower more people, as per TIME. “But that’s not the path it’s on right now. Right now it’s on a path where we take many steps back, where the power is taken away from more and more people and put into the hands of the few. It doesn’t have to be that way,” he told the magazine.

Gordon-Levitt said that private companies cannot be the ones deciding how this technology is going to be developed and deployed. He said people needs to get involved and they just can’t be customers anymore but need to be advocates too.

MUST READ | From energy to chip fabs: Nvidia CEO calls AI the engine reindustrialising America & reviving local jobs