Simu Liu Perfectly Fires Back At Kevin O'Leary For Suggesting Hollywood Use AI To Replace Background Actors

It seems like every industry is currently grappling with the rise of AI and how the technology will be used in that field.

Front and center is the world of film and other creative endeavors, with propositions as mild as using AI to write publication release copy and as wild as what Kevin O'Leary suggested recently: replacing background extras in film to save a few bucks.

Actor Simu Liu, most recently known for his work in Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, heavily disputed that take.

O'Leary, known as "Mr. Wonderful" from his role on Shark Tank, recently made that suggestion when discussing his new A24 film Marty Supreme.

He discussed how the film had allegedly hired up to 150 extras for individual scenes, and lamented the cost of the actors—and of the working conditions.

“Now, those people have to stay awake for 18 hours, be completely dressed in the background...Why couldn’t you simply put AI agents in their place? They’re not the main actors. They’re only in the story visually."

"[You could] save millions of dollars, so more movies could be made. The same director, instead of spending $90 million or whatever he spent, could’ve spent $35 million and made two movies."

O'Leary's naïveté about what film producers would do with an extra $35 million aside, he really made working actors mad with that take.

Actor Simu Liu replied to a tweet from Vanity Fair about O'Leary's suggestion with some fiery and justified rhetoric about what he thought of the concept of AI extras.

Spoiler: he's not a fan.

There were many folks cheering him on in the comments. The way each industry is dealing with AI is varied, but it seems to have people in one of two fairly opposing camps.

The voices of Liu and other actors discussing their own experiences working as extras really came out in the comments.

Liu's background of working as an extra as well as his championing them in his reply to O'Leary made actors come out to support him.

Liu's next appearance will be in the television project The Copenhagen Test, a spy thriller series set to premier in late December 2025.