Nicolas Cage says he refused Amazon AI waiver for Spider-Noir

By Splitfeed EditorialLast updated Oct 11, 2026, 12:30 UTC

At New York Comic-Con on October 10, 2026, Nicolas Cage, 62, publicly stated that he refused to sign an AI waiver Amazon presented him as a condition of his role in Spider-Noir, and said he would "probably not" work with the company again. Cage explicitly connected his refusal to Amazon's $50 billion investment in OpenAI, saying he is "not an AI-friendly actor" and "not a member of their club." Spider-Noir had already been cancelled by Amazon before Cage made these remarks. Amazon has not issued a public response. At the same event, Cage teased a potential role in True Detective Season 5.

The dispute matters because it surfaces a concrete, contractual front in the broader fight over AI in Hollywood: whether signing an AI waiver is simply a standard condition of employment with major platforms. The account @englishmansdcc.bsky.social (Leonard Sultana) highlighted this point directly, arguing that "not enough is being made that a studio has AI waivers on standby for talent, in front and behind the camera, that you HAVE to sign." The show's cancellation adds a layer of ambiguity about whether Cage's refusal was a factor, a coincidence, or irrelevant, since Amazon has stayed silent.

The Anti-AI camp has embraced Cage's stand enthusiastically. @thepaladinjournal.bsky.social (Abhinav aka The Paladin Journal) offered blunt support for Cage and criticism of Amazon. @templephoenix.bsky.social (Temple Phoenix) argued that whatever one thinks of Cage's filmography, it has always been the product of a human being, framing that as the essential point. The Pro-AI camp is largely unmoved by individual acts of refusal. RickJWagner argued that AI will make film production cheaper, better and more scalable regardless of holdouts, and beej71 suggested Hollywood may be close to using fully virtual actors anyway. The Middle Ground camp splits the question in two: @slop-machine.bsky.social (Slop Machine) contended that Cage's particular intensity is precisely what AI cannot replicate, while @jxw.bsky.social (ameriphobe) argued that supporting AI tools and opposing corporate ownership of an actor's likeness are not mutually exclusive positions.

The argument is unlikely to be settled until either Amazon or another major platform publicly defines what AI waivers require actors to consent to, or until a union contract explicitly addresses the practice. Whether Cage's True Detective tease becomes a deal, and under what terms, may offer a small next data point.