Jennifer Love Hewitt has opened up about facing AI in the latest episode of 9-1-1.
In the episode titled, War, the actress plays both Maddie and a rogue artificial intelligence operator named Sara. While the AI, designed to help manage calls faster seems a breakthrough for the Los Angeles call center initially, the system starts making dangerous decisions on its own later.
Furthermore, AI started using Hewitt’s character Maddie’s voice, which she shared that it gave her serious M3GAN vibes, referring to the hit horror film.
“It was really funny to just be mad at a thumb drive,” Hewitt said.
About the filming experience, Hewitt said, “It was pretty funny because obviously Sara handles things so differently than Maddie.”
“So, in a lot of the stuff, Sara’s doing something, Maddie’s cutting her off, or Maddie’s doing something and Sara’s cutting her off. And then, I’m yelling at myself as Sara, but I’m Maddie. And then, I had to talk Sara down and Maddie down at the same time. So, it was very confusing, but it was a lot of fun. [Showrunner] Tim [Minear] likes to give me challenges,” Hewitt added.
Comparing the experience to horror film M3GAN, Hewitt said, “She’s caught off guard. She did not know that this Sara AI person was coming. And then, it has her voice, which is even scarier because it almost feels like a M3GAN kind of situation where it’s like, ‘Girl, you better not have my voice.'”
It is pertinent to mention that Jennifer Love Hewitt also admitted the whole conversation of AI replacing human is very important and also “a really scary conversation.”
Adding, “On the one hand, there are really talented AI artists out there doing these incredible things and you have to have respect for that. Then on the other, you’re able to do some really scary things with AI that I don’t know, as a mom, I worry about for my kids.”
“Anything for her really that happens at the call center to sort of threaten that safe space for her is big in her world … she ran there in complete life peril and found safety at that call center and it needs to stay that way for her,” she said.
