Gal Gadot Defends AI Production on Doug Liman's $70M 'Bitcoin'

Gal Gadot is addressing the growing presence of artificial intelligence in Hollywood production, explaining that her participation in director Doug Liman's upcoming film "Bitcoin" stems from a desire to understand emerging tech rather than get sidelined by it.

Speaking on Josh Horowitz's "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, the actor acknowledged personal reservations about generative systems while arguing that performers must actively engage with new workflows.

"I'm afraid of AI, but I am going to be afraid and look away? No," Gadot said on the podcast, as reported by TheWrap. "I'm afraid and I'm playing with it and I'm learning it and I'm trying to educate myself with it, because I think that the train had left the station, you know? It's one of those things." When Horowitz suggested that ignoring the shift comes at an artist's own peril, Gadot added, "Or be out of the game completely. So I'm trying to make the best of it and protect whatever I can protect."

Gadot stressed that the digital tools on Liman's set were targeted at technical assets rather than replacing on-set labor. "The AI component in this movie is for sets and for the lighting," she told Horowitz. "We had a very broad crew and a lot of people were working on this movie."

The $70 million feature, previously titled "Bitcoin: Killing Satoshi," stars Casey Affleck as the creator of cryptocurrency and was written by Nick Schenk. The project was produced by Acme AI & FX, a company founded by Ryan Kavanaugh, Matt Kavanaugh, Garrett Grant and Lawrence Grey, and completed principal photography on a specialized soundstage in 20 days.

Production sources told TheWrap that mounting the same script using conventional physical production and standard visual effects would have pushed the budget past $300 million.

The production represents an early commercial test case for how mid-tier studio budgets and mainstream talent navigate generative tools. With Hollywood labor guilds scrutinizing artificial intelligence across all phases of production, Gadot's stance underscores the pragmatic calculation some stars are making as studios seek aggressive cost reductions.