EXCLUSIVE: Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt Embraces 'Plurality' in Tech and Art

TaiwanPlus News

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, actor and founder of media platform HitRecord, sits down for an exclusive interview with TaiwanPlus News to discuss how technology can improve democracy and collaboration in art.

Transcript

00:00So I understand this is your first time in Taiwan. What brings you here this time?

00:03My first time ever in Taiwan. I'm so happy to be here.

00:06I was invited here by Audrey Tong, whose book, Plurality, has just come out.

00:11It's one of my favorites that I've read in a long time.

00:13It makes me optimistic about the future of technology and democracy

00:17in ways that I haven't felt in years, to be honest.

00:21And when she invited me, I jumped at the chance.

00:24Yeah, well, you shared the stage with her at the Plurality Summit.

00:28Tell us some takeaways from the summit that you found.

00:30Speaking as an American, in my country,

00:35people's faith in democracy is at a low point, sadly enough.

00:40People don't believe as much in the institutions of democracy

00:46and the idea that the people can really be a part of governing themselves.

00:50It's the whole idea of the United States of America.

00:54And here in Taiwan, we're seeing an example of people

01:00genuinely, legitimately having a say in what their government does.

01:05The systems that Audrey has designed and implemented here in Taiwan,

01:09I think, have allowed people here to come together over their differences,

01:14have productive discussions, find consensus,

01:18and have those ideas ultimately make their way into government and policy.

01:22It's incredible to see.

01:24It's really uplifting for me.

01:26Are there any of the particular platforms or steps that Audrey had proposed

01:32that you'd like to see implemented back in the States?

01:34Yeah, well, for example, social media that's coming out of Silicon Valley

01:38in the United States, it really amplifies differences.

01:42It amplifies people hating each other, arguing with each other.

01:46Why? Because arguing and that kind of thing

01:49tends to make more money for their advertising models.

01:52But the sort of equivalent social media systems

01:56that Audrey's put in place here in Taiwan actually amplify consensus.

02:00You get more attention on the feed.

02:02Your post is more likely to rise to the top on the social network

02:06if you're helping build bridges,

02:09not if you're helping tear the other one down.

02:12That kind of simple change can really make a big difference.

02:16And when I first heard Audrey describing it,

02:18I found it so remarkable that I wanted to learn more.

02:22So your company, Hit Record, actually produced a pretty popular video

02:26here in Taiwan called Lost in Taiwan in 2020.

02:29That was a collaboration of 150 different artists.

02:32Tell us what does the process for a collaborative film like that look like?

02:37Well, that short film, Lost in Taiwan, it's funny.

02:39People have asked me here,

02:41so welcome back to Taiwan because you shot that short film in Taiwan.

02:45And in fact, this is my first time here in Taiwan.

02:49And we did produce that short film, but I wasn't here shooting it.

02:53It was made in a different way on this online platform

02:56where people were coming together on our website

02:59and different people wrote different lines about their experience of Taiwan.

03:05I think a lot of those writers were people from here who lived here.

03:09And then different actors would perform those lines

03:13and different people would shoot video around the country

03:16and contribute all of those things together.

03:18And eventually, they all got edited together into the montage short film.

03:23Yeah, and the business model actually includes a way

03:25to kind of pay all of these people in a fair way.

03:27Do you want to tell us a little bit about that?

03:28Yeah, it's one of the things that bothers me most

03:32about some of the bigger internet platforms is we all contribute our data.

03:38We contribute our content to these platforms.

03:40And, you know, Facebook, et cetera,

03:43they make lots of money by putting ads on our content that we created,

03:48but they don't compensate generally.

03:51And you came out with this op-ed last year in The Washington Post

03:54saying that there needs to be more of a legal and technical way

03:57for people to get paid for their contributions to these generative AI models.

04:02Now, we're a year past that op-ed.

04:04Do you think we've gotten any closer to that kind of model?

04:07I think we have gotten closer, but we're certainly not there yet.

04:12I think we've gotten closer in that people are starting to take notice.

04:16People are starting to pay attention and ask questions.

04:19How are these AI models built?

04:22Oh, everybody's data is going into these models?

04:27Well, did they get everybody's permission for that?

04:30And if they're making a bunch of money from these models,

04:32are they going to pay the people whose data was used to build the models?

04:36These questions, I think, are starting to be asked.

04:38And asking the question is the first step to getting the answer.

04:43Do you have any other plans to make films in Taiwan?

04:46I would love to, yeah.

04:48Well, it's been really inspiring being here,

04:50talking to Audrey and the enormous, lovely community

04:54that she's introduced me to, the GovZero community and the vTaiwan community.

04:58And I do think it would be really inspiring to make a film

05:03about some of these ideas and these communities.

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