Last week, Reese Witherspoon caused a lot of consternation with a social media post. On Instagram, Reese wrote: “I’ve decided it’s TIME. The AI revolution has begun, and I need to learn as much as I possibly can about AI and share it with all of you. Also, FYI: the jobs women hold are 3x more likely to be automated by AI, yet women are using AI at a rate 25% lower than men on average. We don’t want to be left behind. So…do you want to learn with me?” People were mad, mostly because this AI bullsh-t is idiotic 90% of the time and it’s absolutely making everyone dumber. Reese was seen as trying to promote “girlboss AI” and many believed that her Instagram post was some kind of undercover AI spon-con. Well, Reese has heard all of the criticism and she responded:
Reese Witherspoon is responding to the criticism over her stance on artificial intelligence. On April 16, the Oscar winner posted an Instagram video in which she said she believes women should use AI in their daily lives. “The AI revolution has begun, and I need to learn as much as I possibly can about AI and share it with all of you,” her Instagram caption read. Witherspoon, 50, received backlash, prompting her to address the critiques in her Instagram Stories on Monday, April 20.
“Well, I guess my Al post got people talking,” she wrote atop a selfie. “To be clear, no one is paying me to talk about this. I’m just a curious human.”
She remarked that her children “are learning about AI tools.” She shares daughter Ava Phillippe, 26, and son Deacon Phillippe, 22, with her ex-husband,, Ryan Phillippe, as well as son Tennessee Toth, 13, with her ex Jim Toth.
“I know a lot of founders who are vibe coding, and I hear about people using Al in EVERY sector of business,” she wrote. As she continued, she shared how she wants to “acknowledge” people’s concerns around AI use, which she said were “valid.”
“I’m aware of the impact this could have on jobs across so many industries. I understand environmental concerns,” she wrote. The data centers used to power AI systems “drive high energy, water, and e-waste demands,” which critics argue will have a serious environmental impact, according to MIT News.
Witherspoon continued, “I care deeply about local communities. And I have concerns about impending AGI [Artificial General Intelligence].”
“I don’t believe computers should replace humanity,” she added.
The Morning Show star then concluded by sharing her intention to learn “as much as possible” and to be “educated about this technological revolution.”
“If you want to learn with me, great, let’s do this! If you don’t, that’s okay too,” her post read.
Regarding AI, my reflexive habit is scorn, anger and eye-rolling. Is this a wise plan of action long-term? Probably not. While I know AI is not a “scam” in the same sense as NFTs or Labubus were a scam, AI’s defenders and promoters push AI like it’s a scam, like it’s the miracle cure to all of our problems, that everyone needs AI, that AI will revolutionize every industry! And it’s on us, the living and breathing humans, to dissect those claims and decide what our priorities actually are as a society. Reese’s bullsh-t last week felt like she was bandwagoning onto the latest snake-oil cure and I have no problem bashing her for it. And I guarantee that even if Reese isn’t currently being paid for pushing AI, she’s looking at dollar signs down the line.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Reese’s Instagram.
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- HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – APRIL 27: Reese Witherspoon arrives at the 49th Annual AFI (American Film Institute) Lifetime Achievement Award Gala Tribute Celebrating Nicole Kidman held at the Dolby Theatre on April 27, 2024 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 868589495, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Reese Witherspoon, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- WEST HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – FEBRUARY 12: Reese Witherspoon arrives at Apple TV+’s ‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ Season 2 Tastemaker Event held at The West Hollywood EDITION on February 12, 2026 in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 1074627739, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Reese Witherspoon, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- New York, NY – Reese Witherspoon was spotted arriving at “The Morning Show” set in Central Park, looking casual chic in a navy blue blazer and wide jeans. Pictured: Reese Witherspoon BACKGRID USA 30 JULY 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: ROKA / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Los Angeles, CALI – Celebrities attend the Apple TV + Primetime Emmy Party at Mother Wolf in Los Angeles, California. Pictured: Reese Witherspoon BACKGRID USA 15 SEPTEMBER 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: Juan Rico / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Never Trust Tracy Flick.
Tracy was a child and a victim.
Reece is a grown up oligarchy-pusher.
I’m tired of wealthy people telling the non wealthy that we need to get on board with something that will increase the wealth gap, eliminate more jobs for far too many, use more water and electricity than human communities and dump toxic sludge into our environment.
But sure, Reese, we should just get curious.
100% this.
Thank you @Big Earl for articulating exactly why I find posts like Reese’s so condescending and self-serving!
We should all be curious, but she’s not exhibiting any results of her own curiosity, just parroting buzzwords and it’s clear by “Learn with me,” that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
“I know a lot of founders who are vibe coding,” she burbles blankly, without ever admitting those vibers are vibing with an LLM construct, not really coding (not testing either).
She pretends to understand all of the criticisms of AI without ever once acknowledging the widespread disruption to artists from intellectual property theft and unauthorized use of their work to train AI models. Dall-E and others have swallowed millions of copyrighted images without consent, allowing mimicry by wannabes who then pose a direct threat to original artists.
And why would I want to learn from her when I can pay attention to mathbabe and others who are waaay more qualified, and less financially incented to rip me off. 🤮
I don’t believe her.
As you say, even if it’s not immediate she’s looking out for the $$$.
Once people are rich beyond what anyone could comfortably live off for the rest of their lives why can’t they get involved in re-distributing that wealth? The world could be a FAR better place with even a bit less inequality but nope.
She might not be a paid shill, but she could be an investor.
I believe her if she says that she’s not being directly PAID by some AI company to hype them, but I believe she has some huge investment somewhere in AI as a silent investor and the better it does, the more she will make $$. Sort of like Ben Affleck has been talking up AI for several years now, then we find out he invested in a AI company that he just sold to Netflix for bucko bucks.
🎯
I actually think her primary motive of promoting AI might be the same with one of the secondary motives from Ben Affleck.
I wrote a timeline of Ben Affleck starting the AI company secretly in 2022 to his selling it in March this year in the last post’s comment section (at the near bottom of the comment section) when Reese Witherspoon was promoting AI: https://www.celebitchy.com/972434/reese_witherspoon_ive_decided_its_time_the_ai_revolution_has_begun/
And I reasoned that one of the secondary motives for Ben’s talking about AI is his wish of participating the new negotiation between SAG and Hollywood studio that will have to begin from late this year, his wish of regulating AI use, and proper compensation in the contract.
Ben was at the A-list meeting that the trades reported back in Oct 2023 when SAG was having a stand off with AMPTP, showcasing the proposal he wrote to SAG management about residual stream payment structure. And his wish of participating defining new residual stream payment with AI use between SAG and AMPTP in a GQ cover in 2025 when he was promoting The Accountant 2.
Reese Witherspoon was at that A-list meeting too in Oct 2023. I bet she is trying to laying down the gauntlet of demanding a seat in new SAG and AMPTP negotiation, hence playing both the woman card and AI card, since Ben will be the man and natural choice of actors’ representative if he is allowed by both SAG and AMPTP, with his insight of AI technology in filmmaking, AI business case in the industry, and his 2023 work on residual stream payment proposal.
Ben is also DGA and WGA members. So if the directors’ guild and the writers’ guild want to renegotiate the contract with AMPTP this year, he probably will also want to participate, and will be a natural choice as represented by his peers in the industry.
My personal 2 cents on this: AI is a bubble that will explode, don’t know when.
Protests too much, methinks.
I wonder if her Morning Show character will have a story around/about AI next season…
And no one is paying me to not listen to your billionaire clueless crap.
Reese, Sandra & Charlize have all jumped on the AI bandwagon. They made their millions & are aging out of the industry. So they say, what the heck, we will close the door on the up an coming generations.
celebs jumping on this the same way they jumped on crypto, in the most obvious grifting way acting like it’s gonna bring on a golden age for humanity. yeah, crypto has been so great, if you are laundering drug money or trafficking children to Epstein’s island, I guess. I don’t expect much better for AI in the long run.
Reese’s statement is such a clean example of extreme case framing. She offers a token acknowledgment of the problems with AI, but then shifts the topic by ruling out the dramatic outlier and offering hyperbolic reassurance: “I don’t believe computers should replace humanity.” Add to that the semantics dodge she throws in: “No one is paying me to talk about this,” which is likely technically true but contextually false.
Sure, Jan.
Why are you taking a cheap shot at Labubus? I’m not even into them but way to say F you to a whole culture you probably know nothing about.
So me being the nerd that I am I did some digging: Reese sold her company Hello Sunshine in 2021 to Candle Media. Candle Media is backed by Blackstone. Blackstone is a Private Equity company that is heavily invested in…AI. So she may not have been paid directly (under FCC rules it would still be considered an ad because she has vested interest), she definitely a financial interest.
I don’t care for her.
She is the epitome of white woman privilege and exactly how we got this administration.
Only concerned with things that directly affect her. I can’t stand her, I don’t watch her stuff. I will now actively not do so.