‘Tron: Ares’ Star Says Her Character Reveals a Hard Truth About AI and Humans

Even in the opening moments of the Tron: Ares trailer, the story wastes no time in putting humanity’s future with artificial intelligence into jeopardy. And while lots of fans are wondering what kind of performance we’re going to get out of Jared Leto in the titular role of Ares in the Nine Inch Nails-scored sci-fi sequel, fellow cast member Jodie Turner-Smith has a lot to say about how her character is aimed to provoke audiences to think hard about the realities of an AI-filled future.

In a new feature interview with Vogue, Turner-Smith says that although her character, Athena, serves as a sort of antagonist to Leto’s Ares, Athena isn’t the real villain of the story.

“Every villain always has a story that justified their existence, which is why I think it’s so entertaining to watch movies where we take traditional villain characters and tell their story, like Cruella or like Maleficent. Nobody ever truly starts as a villain, and you can obviously empathize with and humanize anyone,†Turner-Smith said. “Athena is really principled. She’s the other side of the coin—what happens if AI begins to gain a consciousness that tells it to override whatever a human is telling them to do.â€

Turner-Smith argued that if fans think Athena is villainous, the reason why is because of the corporations competing to bring the fantastical digital elements of the Grid into the real world, transforming Ares and Athena into soldiers.

“She was created by somebody with a dark spirit and energy, which was something that really interested me about this film, too. It opens up conversations about what can happen when artificial intelligence falls into the wrong hands,†Turner-Smith said. “Will humanity use it to wreak havoc? It feels very current. What happens when you are prompting artificial intelligence in certain ways?â€

Turner-Smith went on to compare Athena to people in the real world who project their negative ideologies or biases onto AI training and prompts, causing the AI to reflect those biases. She cited Elon Musk’s Grok, which briefly declared itself “Mecha-Hitler,†as an example.

“I don’t know if you saw the article about Grok AI and how people were essentially training it to become antisemitic,†she told Vogue. “It makes you wonder: If someone with hateful intentions—whether they’re white supremacist, antisemitic, or homophobic—is prompting an AI with those ideas, is the AI just reflecting that? Arguing against it? And why would it, if it has no consciousness of its own?â€

Tangentially, when discussing the film’s scripting, writer David DiGilio told The Hollywood Reporter that Ares was initially conceived as the movie’s villain before becoming its title character. Leto is famous for method acting and leaving his co-workers awful gifts, but Turner-Smith says that wasn’t the case on the set of Tron: Ares.

“Honestly, I was kind of hoping he’d go full Method—I would have loved it if he had sent me a Light Cycle! I think because we knew each other through fashion beforehand, it probably made the dynamic different for me,†Turner-Smith said. “But my experience was that he was a comrade-in-arms on set. Maybe that’s why it felt like we could have that kind of relationship during filming.â€

Folks can see for themselves if we’re the real baddies after all when Tron: Ares hits theaters on October 10.

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