‘We don’t want to be left behind’: Reese Witherspoon says using AI is feminist and women need to catch up

Reese Witherspoon has established herself as a businesswoman committed to feminism. Her media brand Hello Sunshine’s mission is to “put women at the center of every story,” and her much-memed quote that “women’s stories matter—they just matter!” is nearly as recognizable as her roles in Legally Blonde and Big Little Lies.

But Witherspoon’s latest Instagram post has social media questioning that image. The actress encouraged women to get educated on AI, lest they be “left behind” as the technology comes for their careers.

In her video, Witherspoon described being at a book club with 10 other women and asking them about their AI usage. Of the 10, she said, only 3 were using AI, and only 1 said she felt like she knew what she was doing. According to Witherspoon, this is a big problem.

“The thing I’ve learned about technology is if you don’t get a little bit of understanding from the very beginning, it just speeds past you. So you have to have little bits of learning just to keep up,” she said.

Reese doubled down in the caption, writing, “The AI revolution has begun, and I need to learn as much as I possibly can about AI and share it with all of you. Also, FYI: the jobs women hold are 3x more likely to be automated by AI, yet women are using AI at a rate 25% lower than men on average. We don’t want to be left behind. So . . . do you want to learn with me?”

However, Witherspoon’s framing of AI usage as a feminist imperative has been rubbing many of her fans the wrong way.

“This isn’t a feminist move IMO,” wrote one commenter on Instagram. “It’s submitting to a technology that is devastating to poor communities and the environment.”

“We aren’t being left behind, we are refusing a future that isn’t designed for us,” echoed another. “How about you use your privilege to resist instead of acting like this is all inevitable?”

It’s not the first time Witherspoon has voiced her support for AI use by women. In an interview with Glamour last September, she said, “It’s so, so important that women are involved in AI because it will be the future of filmmaking.”

Witherspoon’s rocky history with tech trends

The social media backlash to Witherspoon’s post also follows the businesswoman’s rocky history with trends in technology.

During the NFT boom of the early 2020s, Witherspoon was a vocal supporter of the technology, once posting that “in the (near) future, every person will have a parallel digital identity. Avatars, crypto wallets, digital goods will be the norm.” Her move into NFTs also had a feminist spin: She promoted the World of Women NFT collection, which marketed itself as balancing representation in the NFT space. In 2022, Hello Sunshine even partnered with World of Women to adapt its NFTs into movies and TV shows.

Of course, the NFT bubble popped not long after Witherspoon got involved, leading some social media users to write off her support for AI as more misguided enthusiasm for a fad.

“She’s really good at predicting the future,” one poster joked, accompanied by a screenshot of an article about her World of Women partnership.

“DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS LADY SHE TRIED TO GET YOU TO BUY NFTS,” posted another.

Witherspoon’s team declined to comment on the social media backlash.

But if Witherspoon’s history with NFTs already had social media feeling suspicious, her other connections, including to investment company Blackstone, are throwing speculation into overdrive.

Blackstone backs Candle Media, and through Candle, it bought majority shares of Hello Sunshine for more than $500 million in 2021.  Blackstone has since become the leading investor in AI data centers, including a $25 billion investment in Pennsylvania’s AI infrastructure last summer.

Now social media users are questioning whether Witherspoon has investments in AI beyond what she’s representing to her fan base. “Anyone pushing you to use AI has their own vested interest in it,” one viral post on X claimed in response to Witherspoon’s statement. (There is no evidence that Witherspoon was paid for her post promoting AI.)

“She has her money invested in it,” alleged another user—adding that “what really needs to stop” is pandering to underrepresented communities and claiming they need to embrace the technology, “when AI is already hurting black and [poor] communities in real time. Just say you care more about money than people’s health and the environment and keep it pushing.”

“Be very careful as they try to girlboss gaslight AI,” wrote a third user.

Other celebs on the AI bandwagon

Though Witherspoon’s pro-AI sentiment was controversial, she’s not the only iconic actress embracing the technology.

Kerry Washington, Witherspoon’s co-star in Little Fires Everywhere, commented “THIS” on her post in apparent support. Meanwhile, Sandra Bullock shared a very similar message while promoting her upcoming film Practical Magic 2.

“[AI is] here. We have to observe it. We have to understand it. We have to lean into it. We have to use it in a really constructive and creative way, make it our friend,” Bullock said. “I mean, we have to be incredibly cautious and aware of it because there are people who will use it for evil and not good. But I do feel that there’s a place for it.”

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