“Law & Order SVU” star Ice-T says he’s not worried that an Artificial Intelligence (AI) version of himself could eventually take his place onscreen, continuing his character’s story arc in perpetuity.
Ice-T, born Tracy Lauren Marrow, already holds the record for playing the same character — Detective Odafin Tutuola on NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” — on a primetime television series. That happened entirely by chance, he said at his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in 2022 — after a four-episode guest spot turned into a run that has lasted more than two decades and 500 episodes. Carrying on that role via AI would only extend his run.
“I think Ice-T could potentially act forever,” the actor referenced himself in the third person when talking to entertainment site Page Six. “I wouldn’t care. I think to say ‘no’ would be selfish. A future AI version of me would be better than me.”
Ice-T spoke with journalists just before he was slated to host a book launch for “Our Planet Powered By AI,” by Mark Minevich — and despite the recent SAG-AFTRA strike that centered on issues related to the use of AI in film, he argued that people should be ready to work with the technology rather than against it.
“I believe it’s coming and we need to just address it as it comes. There is nothing you can do,” he explained. “One of my favorite quotes from Quincy Jones is, ‘if you want to lose a fight, fight the future.'”
“If you can’t beat them, join them. I am trying to read as much [as I can] to be involved as it grows,” he said, adding that the main concern for most people seemed to be that AI would take their livelihood.
“I think people are freaking because they think they are going to lose their jobs — but people can lose their jobs at any time,” he pointed out. “I don’t think people will lose jobs, they will have different jobs, we will become more computer-ish type people. When you imagine the future, you don’t imagine manual tasks, you imagine future s***.”