SNL veteran Molly Shannon revealed that Will Ferrell predicted the rise of AI and AI actors decades ago. Shannon, during her latest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! spoke about her time on SNL with Ferrell and revealed that Ferrell had predicted “robots” replacing humans on screen in the future. At the time, Shannon did not think it was a concrete possibility. But looking back, it seems like Ferrell predicted the future.
Molly Shannon recalls Will Ferrell’s prediction about AI from their time on SNL
Molly Shannon made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! recently. There she spoke about veteran actor and comedian Will Ferrell. Shannon and Ferrell have been friends for decades now. They even had a stint together on SNL, which helped launch both of them to stardom.
Shannon revealed that when she met Ferell, she was working in a “cappuccino, scone place” in Los Angeles. “We clicked right away,” she told Kimmel, “We’ve been friends ever since. 30 years.”
Later, both of them were hired by SNL. This became a standout era for SNL and the two actors. Shannon recalled one particular conversation with Ferrell from this time, which now feels chillingly accurate.
“One night when we were at SNL, we had just started, and I was so excited like, ‘Oh my god, this job’s so great,” Shannon recalled, “And Will was kind of dark, and he was like, ‘I don’t know. Who knows how long this is going to last?”
“I just think it’s not going to last long, and I think actors are eventually going to be replaced by robots, and they’re not going to need human actors anymore,” Shannon recalled Ferrell telling her. At the time he said this, it seemed like an absurd idea. “I was like, ‘What? Are you crazy? You’re being so dark,” Shannon said of her own reaction.
She admitted that now they “die laughing about it now,” given the way things have shaped up in the past few years.
At the time, Ferrell said he could work as a dog groomer or as a UPS driver and still be happy. Kimmel joked that the UPS driver job has also gone away now, and grooming dogs may not be far away for robots either.
