Jenna Ortega clarifies stance on AI: “A computer has no soul”

Posted On November 29, 2025November 29, 2025

Wednesday actor Jenna Ortega has shared her opinion on the rise of Artificial Intelligence in the creative sector, admitting it is “very easy to be terrified” of the technology.

Speaking at the Marrakech Film Festival, the star shared that she believes AI brings a “deep uncertainty”, both to filmmaking and the world at large.

She is currently serving jury at the festival, which Mickey 17 filmmaker Bong Joon Ho heads. Ortega was asked about the state of AI, and began by reflecting on the past.

Historically, humankind “always takes things too far,” Ortega shared, adding that with AI, “it kind of feels like we’ve opened Pandora’s box in a way.”

Nonetheless, the actor still has hope. She ruminated, “In these difficult and confusing times, oftentimes it pushes the artist to speak out more, to do more, for there to be this new awakening and passion and protection, and I want to assume and hope that that’s the case.”

She went on to add, “But there are certain things that AI just isn’t able to replicate. There’s beauty in difficulty, and there’s beauty in mistakes, and a computer can’t do that. A computer has no soul.”

As per Variety, Ortega shared her hope as to how we might move past this zeitgeist. She hopes AI “comes to a point where it becomes sort of mental junk food and we feel sick and we don’t know why. I think, as terrible as it is to say, sometimes audiences need to be deprived of something in order to appreciate something again.”

The Parasite filmmaker agreed with her, adding that it might represent an important moment, which is “the very beginning of the human race finally seriously thinking about what only humans can do.”

However, he was clear in his overall reaction to the technology: “My personal answer is I’m going to organise a military squad where their mission is to destroy AI all over the world.”

Ortega is next set to appear in the upcoming movie, The Gallerist, a dark comedy thriller directed by Cathy Yan. The 2026 movie follows a gallery owner who conspires to sell a dead body at Art Basel Miami. She stars alongside Natalie Portman and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

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