The star of Minority Report might know a thing or two about the dangers of artificial intelligence. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Cruise Zoomed into SAG-AFTRA negotiations about AI in June in the hopes of getting the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to understand the union’s concerns with the future of AI in Hollywood.

Cruise and the actors union pushed for new guidelines around the use of generative AI in film and television, reportedly focused on making sure that performers are properly compensated if their likeness is used by the technology, and that those likenesses can’t be used without proper consent. Any actor can request to join a SAG-AFTRA negotiation, and is permitted to join based on the guild’s discretion; per THR, so far Cruise has been the only megawatt star to join the negotiations.

Getting the AMPTP to hear out concerns regarding AI wasn’t the Mission: Impossible star’s only mission. Along with the use of AI, SAG-AFTRA had a handful of concerns and proposals regarding stunt professionals, including stunt coordinators and stunt performers. Cruise, who famously does most of his own stunts, reportedly joined SAG-AFTRA for those talks as well.  

Alas, Cruise’s mere presence was not enough to persuade the AMPTP, leading to a SAG-AFTRA strike. The strike, which began on July 14, has led to an industry-wide production shutdown that has affected projects including Cruise’s forthcoming Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part Two. As long as the strike continues, there’s also a moratorium on actors doing promotion or publicity for film and TV projects, per SAG-AFTRA’s strike rules. Cruise’s latest film, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One, hit theaters on July 12, the night the actors’ contracts with the studios and streamers expired. 

At the negotiations in June, Cruise reportedly also asked SAG-AFTRA to consider allowing actors to promote their film and television projects during the strike, given the tenuous state of the movie theater industry postpandemic. A source close to Cruise told Deadline that the PR campaign for that Dead Reckoning had wrapped, and that his request was not specifically tied to that film but rather about the power actors have in influencing box office results, in general. Another source told THR Cruise’s request made the union “uncomfortable.” Cruise’s Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning grossed $235 million in its first five days at the box office. 

The SAG-AFTRA negotiations would not be the first time Cruise has attempted to save Hollywood. Cruise fought to have his film Top Gun: Maverick debut in theaters amid pressure from the studio to make the sequel available on streaming, and the gamble paid off. Top Gun: Maverick grossed almost $1.5 billion worldwide and was nominated for six Oscars, including best picture. Many credited the film for saving the summer box office—Steven Spielberg thanked Cruise for “saving Hollywood’s ass”—as it attempted to return to its postpandemic heights.