• Paul Schrader — the 79-year-old writer-director behind Taxi Driver, First Reformed, and The Card Counter — delivered the keynote at the fourth annual AI on the Lot conference at Amazon/MGM Studios in Culver City on Thursday, despite facing backlash from fellow artists when he announced he would speak
• Schrader predicted that AI-generated synthetic performers will eventually become genuine box office draws, arguing that the real commercial future of AI in film is not visual effects but fully artificial protagonists: “The real tip of the spear is when we can create an AI protagonist, not a hybrid, and that movie makes money”
• “You do the new Clint Eastwood via text prompt,” he told the audience — sketching a future in which studios generate star-caliber performances digitally rather than hiring actors
• Schrader warned that Hollywood is “barely keeping a step ahead of the monster” on AI, and used the speech to question whether film schools and extras will remain relevant as the technology matures

Paul Schrader knew the invite was going to cause problems. When he posted on Facebook that he would keynote the AI on the Lot conference, the response from fellow writers and artists was, in his words, swift and hostile. “There was very much of a backlash,” he told the audience Thursday morning on a soundstage at the Amazon/MGM Studios lot in Culver City. “A lot of negative comments. Some of them were in fact insulting.” He went anyway — and laid out a vision of the film industry’s future that did nothing to soften that reception.

His central argument: the AI revolution in Hollywood isn’t really about monsters and spectacle. “I don’t think the real future of AI commercially is in all this flash, all these monsters — that’s just jacked-up special effects on steroids,” he said. “The real tip of the spear is when we can create an AI protagonist, not a hybrid, and that movie makes money.” He predicted audiences will eventually embrace fully synthetic stars the way they’ve embraced any new kind of performer, per The Hollywood Reporter.

‘The New Clint Eastwood Via Text Prompt’

The most quotable moment of the speech came when Schrader described what AI star-making could look like in practice: “You do the new Clint Eastwood via text prompt.” The line crystallized his argument that the end state of AI in entertainment isn’t a tool for filmmakers — it’s a replacement for the star system itself. Schrader also questioned whether studios still need to pay extras at all, and predicted upheaval for film schools as the craft knowledge they teach becomes less essential, per Deadline.

The LA Times reported that Schrader described Hollywood as “barely keeping a step ahead of the monster” — a framing that positions AI not as a tool the industry controls but as a force it is running from. Schrader, who has previously said he “procured an online AI girlfriend” (who he says dumped him), is an unusual advocate: an old-school auteur genuinely engaged with the technology rather than dismissing it, per the Los Angeles Times.

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• ElevenLabs has partnered with Stan Lee Universe to add the late Marvel Comics legend to its Iconic Marketplace — a commercial licensing platform featuring AI-generated celebrity voices and likenesses
• Lee’s AI voice, built from professional recordings, will narrate audiobooks through the Eleven Reader app, starting with Treasure Island as the first entry in the new Stan Lee Book Club of the Month
• His likeness is also available in comic book panel-inspired templates, available to users starting Wednesday
• Stan Lee Universe is a joint venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment — the latter being the company Lee founded after his Marvel era
• Fan reaction on social media has been largely negative, with responses on X ranging from “corny” and “weird” to “even in death he’s still being exploited”

Stan Lee died in November 2018. This week, his voice showed up in an AI product catalog.

ElevenLabs — the AI audio company that raised $500 million at an $11 billion valuation — has announced a partnership with Stan Lee Universe to add Lee to its Iconic Marketplace, a commercial licensing platform where companies can pay to use AI-generated celebrity voices. The deal covers Lee’s voice, his image, and his likeness. Per Variety, ElevenLabs built the voice model using professional recordings of Lee made during his lifetime.

Stan Lee Universe is a joint venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment — the company Lee founded after his Marvel era — built specifically to manage and license his name, likeness, and intellectual property. His estate had already granted Marvel Studios the rights to use his likeness in films and at Disney parks back in 2022. This deal extends that logic considerably further: instead of controlled appearances in specific Marvel productions, his voice is now available as a licensable commercial product.

What the Deal Actually Lets You Do

Through the partnership, companies can license Lee’s AI voice and likeness for commercial projects. Individual users get access to comic book panel-inspired templates featuring his image. And through ElevenLabs’ Eleven Reader app, listeners can hear audiobooks narrated in Lee’s voice — the first title in the new Stan Lee Book Club of the Month is Treasure Island, scheduled for next month.

ElevenLabs also included superhero-themed music presets in the package — presets with names like “Superhero Cinematic Swells” and “Retro Hero Fanfare” — for anyone who wants an authentic comic-book soundtrack alongside the AI voice. Lee shares the Iconic Marketplace alongside Michael Caine, David Hasselhoff, Judy Garland, John Wayne, Ricardo Montalban, and Albert Einstein.

Chaz Rainey, an attorney and board member for Stan Lee Universe, framed the partnership as an extension of how Lee engaged with fans in life: “Stan always believed in meeting his fans where they were: in the pages of a comic, at a convention, or in a quick on-screen cameo. This partnership is a way of continuing that. Fans have always told us that when they read his comics, they hear the words in Stan’s voice, and now, thanks to ElevenLabs, we can make that a reality.”

The Reaction

The announcement landed with mixed to hostile reception online. On X, responses to posts about the deal included words like “corny” and “weird,” and at least one user wrote simply: “Even in death he’s still being exploited.” Others directed criticism at Lee’s family and associates for allowing the likeness acquisition — a charged topic, since multiple people close to Lee in his final years have faced accusations of behavior that AARP has described as potentially consistent with elder abuse.

The deal arrives at a moment when the broader AI-likeness conversation is particularly fraught. SAG-AFTRA fought a nearly four-month strike in 2023 in part over AI protections for living performers, and that fight is ongoing. Using the voices and images of people who can no longer consent to any of it adds a layer the union contract negotiations haven’t fully addressed.

Lee co-created Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, among dozens of other characters. He was 95 when he died. A generation of Marvel fans knows him as much from his cameos as from the comics — the quick appearances in nearly every MCU film, always delighted, always in on the joke. Whether an AI audiobook narration of Treasure Island is a fitting continuation of that legacy or something else entirely is the question fans seem to be arguing about right now.

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