Demi Moore stood on the sun-drenched Riviera on Tuesday to deliver a warning to the beautiful people of Cannes. The actress, currently serving as a jury member for the 79th Cannes Film Festival, described the fight against artificial intelligence as a “losing battle” during a high-profile photocall. While the festival officially bans generative AI from competition, the technology is already the only thing anyone is talking about at the Hotel du Cap. Moore’s warning comes just as Matthew McConaughey has signed a deal with ElevenLabs to translate his “Lyrics of Livin’” newsletter into Spanish using a synthetic voice.

ElevenLabs, which raised $500 million in February, is quickly becoming the voice of the new Hollywood. They have already resurrected James Earl Jones to play Darth Vader in Fortnite and secured Gordon Ramsay to bark instructions via MasterClass. Even the small screen is getting in on the act, with the final seasons of HBO’s “Hacks” and “The Comeback” featuring plots where performers are offered lucrative deals to be replaced by digital ghosts. Lisa Kudrow recently reflected on the “emotional logic” of her character Valerie Cherish facing the end of human collaboration in the writers' room.

Read together, the Riviera's anxiety and McConaughey's business deals describe a town where the human pulse is becoming a niche luxury. This paper's reading suggests that the entertainment industry is the canary in the coal mine; while Demi Moore calls for protection, the biggest stars are already cashing the checks for their digital twins.