Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning’ Inspired President Biden to Bolster Security Against AI Threats

Tom Cruise has saved cinema, and now, maybe the United States?

Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” franchise installment allegedly inspired President Joe Biden to issue an executive order for new security measures involving artificial intelligence.

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Deputy White House chief of staff Bruce Reed told the Associated Press that the president became more concerned over AI threats after watching the film, directed by Christopher McQuarrie.

“If he hadn’t already been concerned about what could go wrong with AI before that movie, he saw plenty more to worry about,” Reed said.

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” follows Cruise’s Ethan Hunt as he battles the Entity, a sentient AI program that infiltrates every possible security program on an international scale.

Both Reed and Biden watched the movie at Camp David. Reed noted that, additionally, Biden was “impressed and alarmed” after seeing “fake AI images of himself” and discovering the “terrifying technology of voice cloning.”

“Biden was profoundly curious about the technology in the months of meetings that led up to drafting the order,” Reed said, adding that the president met with scientists that explained the possible uses of AI.

The executive order will direct “the most sweeping actions ever taken to protect Americans from the potential risks of AI systems,” including developing standards, tools, and tests to ensure safety in AI systems and requiring AI developers to share their safety test results and other information with the U.S. government. The order also directs guidance for “content authentication and watermarking to clearly label AI-generated content” to protect against fraud via AI.

The uses of AI are currently part of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike negotiations with the AMPTP, as well as being a key issue in the now-resolved WGA strike. Directors Christopher Nolan and Nicolas Winding Refn have spoken out about the use of ChatGPT and other AI tools in the landscape of filmmaking.

Refn exclusively told IndieWire that ChatGPT will “shut down” any content deemed “controversial or themes that are not acceptable anymore.”

“So for me, it’s almost like if your work is approved by a chat, that’s a great alert system to rewrite,” Refn said. “It was very interesting trying it because I thought I was going to use it creatively, but I really ran into always disagreeing with it. So I just stopped using it, and that was that.”

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