Google has released Veo 3, the new version of its AI video generator, that includes the ability to generate sound effects and dialogue as well. Is this the beginning of the end for Hollywood as we know it? Glenn Beck speaks with actor Zachary Levi (“Shazam!”, “Tangled”), who has been warning about this day for years. Levi comments on this game-changing technology, which is one of the reasons he’s building Wyldwood Studios, a “new Hollywood” outside Austin, Texas.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Zachary Levi is with us. Hi, Zach, how are you?
ZACHARY: Hey, good morning, Glenn. Doing all right. How are you doing?
GLENN: I'm really good. I'm not in your business. How concerned are you, by what Google released this week?

ZACHARY: I mean, I'm -- I'm very concerned. I mean, I think -- you and I talked about this when I came on your show last, and I hate to sound like a doomer and gloomer. But, I mean, this is something I've been foreseeing for a really long time. I've been banging this drum for a very long time, and trying to wake people up and say, hey, listen, technology, it moves exponentially.

This is one of the things that I think most people just don't understand. Whether it's people in my industry or other industries. And I say, yes. This is knocking on the doorstep of entertainment right now. But understand that AI is knocking on the doorstep of all of our industries. Your industry.
Radio.

GLENN: Yeah. All of it. All of it.

ZACHARY: Anything that can be reported and broadcasted.

But every industry. I mean, we are -- there are huge, you know, experts in many fields, that say, within a year, two years, you start with five years, every white-collar job will be gone.

And a lot of blue-collar jobs will be right behind that. You have to recognize, that AI is not just moving exponentially, but also humanoid robots. And the development of humanoid robots is developing exponentially. And exponential growth is something that people just don't understand.

Most people see growth as kind of just, you know, multiple -- meaning like, okay. Every year, it gets twice as good. No, no, no. It doesn't get twice as good every year. It gets ten times as good, then a hundred times as good. Then a thousand times as good. And so on, and so forth. And so years ago, I was telling people, guys, if what we have right now. For example, two years ago, AI was generating images. And, you know, but, you know, humans had six fingers. People said, this is -- look at this. This is never going to get good. You can't even get the amount of fingers right on people's hands. Yeah. Yeah.

Right now, it can't do that. But six months later, it did. Six months after that, you had video.

And now you've got video with audio, and it's almost indiscernible, as you've been seeing with these new examples. It's almost indiscernible. People are saying, yeah. I can still tell.

Right now, you can. But six months from now. A year from now. Two years from now. We're going to --

GLENN: I don't even think that long.

ZACHARY: No. Not that long. So people have to wake up.

So for people in my industry, I think that, yes. We should all be very, very concerned.

But everyone should be very concerned.

And it's not even just -- for example, this could very much replace my job.

This is partly why I'm building Wildwood studios in Austin, Texas.

It's always been the 25-year calling that God has put on my life, to create a better Hollywood.

To give artists a better life. A better work-life balance. To give audiences better content.

These are all things we deserved for a very long time. AI is the kind that -- the most galvanizing force in all of this.

Because if we don't do something about it.
If we don't hold the line, if we don't build the ark, which is really kind of what I've always felt on my life. I felt this kind of Noah calling on my life.
Hey, listen, a flood is coming.

It's not going to be water. It will be something completely different. That is AI.

You can build the ark. You can at least save as many of those jobs, 2 by 2, as you can. But if you don't build the ark, then the flood just wipes everything out. Yeah, go ahead.

GLENN: So -- so -- let me -- let me interrupt you on that.

Because I believe -- I mean, I'm developing some things with aye. And I've been on this with AI as well.

And I believe you're absolutely right, that you have to get -- you know, you have to get into a vote. Because floods are coming. However, you have to -- you can't dismiss it.

You have to, I think use some of the skills that it has, in a positive way.

Because I think it could. It will enhance as long as, you don't surrender to it. It will enhance what you can do.

So are you talking about, you know, building something that has no use for AI?

And it's just this island? Or are you saying that we'll use it, but we'll use it in ethical ways.

And we will never allow it to become the master. We will always use it as a tool?

ZACHARY: Yes. That's exactly right. So I'm a firm believer, and have been for many years. That philosophically, you cannot stop progress. You can only hope to guide it.

That is the bottom line, right?

GLENN: Right. Right.

ZACHARY: So it would be to look at new technology. By the way, to do some really cool things in this world. Example being, we're at the brink of nearly having our ear pods. Apple I tink will start, but other companies will be right behind it, but not simultaneously.

You will have real time language translation. It's going to happen. It's happening very, very soon.

Now, that's incredible. That's something that as the human race, we've all been wanting. Since the tower of Babel.

Right?

For all of us to be able to communicate across the world. No language barriers across the world.

That's huge. That's a huge leap forward for mankind. That will absolutely displace what is a smaller, let's say industry of translators. Right?

There are many translators in the world. It's not the biggest industry let's say. And I feel for those people. And you have to be very conscious about trying to rehome them in other jobs.

But that's -- you always to have ask yourself, is the juice worth the squeeze? Is it ultimately worth it for the betterment of all of us?

So I don't think we can't embrace AI. We must embrace AI. But we must do it in an ethical way as possible. And be mindful, of what is it doing?

How is it disrupting, and how is it displacing jobs? Because that's the only thing we can do.

Now, when it comes to entertainment, there's going to be all kinds of ways to implement AI, to make the process more efficient, more enjoyable, and I have every intention of using AI like that.

I don't vilify it, you know, at large. But I think that we must be very mindful about how we implement it.

And still holding on to human creativity.

Human art and entertainment is -- is at the brink.

But I also believe, you know, with that example.

I think that not only is it necessary, you know, to prevent let's say the extinction of human art and entertainment.

There's also a market opportunity in this.

Similar to vinyl, for example, you -- once upon a time, all music. Vinyl records, that's what it was.

And when the cassette tape came out, and everyone said, well, I don't need vinyl anymore. I will go with these little rectangular plastic, you know, cassette tapes.

And I will do that. Then the CD came out.
More people loved vinyl, and then streaming. And now more people loved vinyl.

But the people that held on. The people that said, you know, everybody is going to zig, but I'm going to zag. I'm going to hold on to this.

I will keep -- I believe there' something special about it, unique about it. And sure enough, vinyl sales have gone up because people are looking for something that is more human, more tangible, more -- slightly imperfect. A little crackle. A little -- you know, whatever.

GLENN: Right.

ZACHARY: So that's what we intend to do. We intend to hold on. To -- I can't save the entire industry.

That's impossible. But I will try to save as many jobs as I can. And in doing so, providing audiences an alternative. And I think a lot of audiences will be looked for that alternative.

GLENN: Zach, I like you. I've bone this for a long time.

And I've put a lot of thought into -- because my job is at stake. Everybody's job is at stake. And I've always thought that, well, there's something about humans, that we have a different sense to us.

But I don't know if you heard. There was a study done of, I think 100,000 songs, and they did, you know, what's called hook testing to see which tested the best.

The -- I think it was seven out of the top ten were AI. And people didn't know it was AI. Seven out of the top ten.

ZACHARY: Yeah.

GLENN: We used to say,AI can't -- art can never be done.

So what is it that -- that you think is going to be unique quickly, I mean? I believe there is going to be a huge draw, back to hand-made, individual.

You know, when -- when machines came out.

And yet factories. They started to produce shirts.

Nobody wanted a homemade shirt.

Nobody wanted a handmade shirt.

They wanted one from the factory.

Now, handmade is the best of the best.

So there's going to be a -- a renaissance if untilled, of handmade and human made stuff.

But what is it right now, that will bridge this gap, that humans can do, that you don't think AI can do?

ZACHARY: Well, I think that, you know, obviously my performance, that's going to be huge. Right?

So people will -- in this -- in this rebound effect of people saying, oh, it just is flooded with ubiquitous content. A lot of people will say, I want something authentic.

And authenticity is the most important.

In fact, there is studies done, just from an energy level.

As humans, we have -- we produce an energy. When we have various emotions. Right?

And there's lower energy, if you're sad, depressed, and angry.

And higher energy is when you're joyful and happy. And you feel loved.

But there's an energy even higher than love, as they assessed. And it's authenticity. That's the highest energetic level that we can all reach. And so people yearn for that. They really do. So my performance obviously is going to be that.

Sports is going to have a big -- a lot of people are investing in -- in sports. And live performance.

Because that is going to go over the longest. At least as long as -- you know, let's say, robots and holograms. That's going to start to kind of eat into that a little bit.

We will see how long that goes. But ultimately --

GLENN: I have to tell you. May I say something on that.

Have you been to London, and seen the Abba experience?

ZACHARY: I haven't. I am very well aware of that.

GLENN: Yeah. It's beyond incredible.

My son and I said -- I didn't tell my daughter, who was a teenager at the time. Seventeen years old. That Abba wasn't really performing. We just didn't tell her.

And two songs into it, I said, do you think they're real? Does it look like they're real?

I said, what are you talking about? I said, those aren't real. Those aren't people. She said, what are you talking about?

She couldn't believe it. The first couple of songs, my son who was 18, 17 at the time, kept looking at me, saying, Dad, this changes everything. This is not good. This changes everything.

And, I mean, everything is just about to turn upside down.

ZACHARY: Yeah. Yeah. It's all ready.

In front of our eyes, it's happening already.

GLENN: Yeah.

ZACHARY: And I am not one of those people. Many people who I talked to. A common pushback I get is people saying, well, it will never be able to fully replicate -- let's say human emotion. Or -- and I just don't believe that.

GLENN: I don't believe it.
ZACHARY: We, ourselves, we are an amalgamation of everything that we've taken in.

Right? So we ourselves are kind of LLMs. We scrape our entire lives. We scrape information from our parents, our community, people around us.

You know, the internet. Whatever. We're learning all the time. And then we are replicating from the things that we learn.

AI is doing that. And it's doing it at scale. And it's happening exponentially, and we're very, very close to it becoming AGI, general intelligence. Which is then a few steps away from super intelligence.

And at that point, it will be more intelligent and more capable, than just not any individual humans.

It will be more capable and more intelligent than the sum of all humanity. So we're stepping into some insane, insane territory.

And when we start, you know, empowering video agents like Google and others, that will keep popping up.

It -- it is terrifying to -- to acknowledge that. A lot of people just don't.

They're kind of burying their head in the sand.

Saying, no, no, no. It won't happen. It won't happen.

It's going to happen.

At that point, I think what we have to. What I'm hoping trump and the administration will be working on in earnest. Is legislation, that the very least requires all content that is AI generated to be watermarked. Right?

So therefore, we know, we can say, okay. I can't tell the difference. I don't know the difference.

I -- just by looking and listening to it, I can't tell if it's real humans doing it or not. The difference will be, that there will be some kind of watermarking that indicates that.

And, therefore, that's what people will be looking for. In the same way, if you go to the supermarket, and you're looking at blueberries. And these ones on the left, look the same as the right.

But there's packaging that says, these ones on the right are organic. These are the ones I'm looking for. I want the organic ones, that aren't sprayed. I'm trying to make certificated organic human-made content for free-range artists. That's what Wildwood Studios will be about. And also at Wildwood Studios, we won't just be making and really focusing and dedicated to making human films, television, music, and video games. But we will also be performing amphitheater in live performance venues. It's a one-stop shop so people can really know, that when they build there, they support us, they support humans in that process.

GLENN: Love it. Zachary, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

And anything we can do to help you at Wildwood, let me know. Please, Zachary Levi. Wildwood Studios. Owner. Actor. He was Chuck. He was -- I mean, ton of great movies and everything else.

So Zachary Levi, thanks.