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Jean Smartcautioned against AI following her eighth Emmy win.
On her way out of the 2026 Emmy Awards on September 15, after earning her latest accolade, Smart was asked about the future of acting in the wake of artificial intelligence.
“I’m worried about a little bit more than acting when it comes to AI,” she admitted.
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The actress had just become the first woman to win a Best Lead Actress Emmy for every season of a show’s run. She swept five for each installment of Hacks,in which she starred as washed-up comedian Deborah Vance.
The 75-year-old is also officially tied with Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfusfor the most primetime wins in Emmys history following last night’s victory for the series’ final season.
But after her historic win, Smart wasn’t shy to dish out some advice to Donald Trump when it comes to the rise of AI not just in creative spaces, but across all industries.
‘He’s Wrong’
“It’d be nice if they put up some guardrails,” she shared flatly with a TMZ reporter, while making her way through a crowd of cameras and microphones.
The reporter noted that the president “says no guardrails are needed” when it comes to artificial intelligence across the board, prompting an icy response from Smart.
“Oh, well, he’s wrong,” she stated coldly, walking away from the congested scene. “He’s wrong.”
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Smart’s Hacks character confronted the rise of AI in the final season of the show, rejecting an offer to use an AI program that would replicate her voice and comedic style.
“Why are you trying to optimize the creative process?” her character asked the tech executives. “It makes it not art, but using that shortcut then makes it something else.”
Smart also spoke to reporters about the emotional final season of her Emmy-winning series.
“I thought [the writers] did such a good job,” she said of the finale. “I mean, it was a five-year story from day one. We knew it was going to be five years. I thought they ended it brilliantly.”
Jean Smart’s Emmy Speech
The veteran actress gave an emotional shout-out to the team that surrounded her as she accepted her final award for the HBO series.
“I have so many people to thank: first, Universal and HBO, my reps who are the best in the business, and my children who are my anchor, Forrest and Connor,” she gushed. “But this one I’m dedicating to [Hacks writers] Jen Satsky and Paul W. Down. It all begins and ends with them. Thank you. Thank you all so much.”
