Superstar Reese Witherspoon responded Tuesday to viral backlash against earlier comments she had made urging women to familiarize themselves with Artificial Intelligence and its uses — or risk being “left behind” in the workforce.

“The AI revolution has begun, and I need to learn as much as I possibly can about AI,” she told her 30.6 million followers last week on Instagram. “Also, FYI: the jobs women hold are three times more likely to be automated by AI, yet women are using AI at a rate 25% lower than men on average.”

Her statistic corroborated findings in a report by the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) in conjunction with Poland’s National Research Institute (NASK), though she didn’t cite a source.

But it struck many commenters as a paid plug, given that Witherspoon didn’t address environmental, health, cognitive and other harms associated with AI. Authors slammed her for the apparent endorsement of the technology, including one who said AI had “plagiarized all my books.”

In her video rebuttal Tuesday, Witherspoon clarified that she was not advocating to replace humans with AI and emphasized that technology could never replicate human creativity. She said she was merely trying to help women recognize the reality that the technology was here to stay, and that they ignore it at their own peril.

“Well, I guess my AI post got people talking,” “The Morning Show” star said. “To be clear, no one is paying me to talk about this. I’m just a curious human. My kids are learning about AI tools, I know a lot of founders who are vibe coding, and I hear about people using AI in EVERY sector of business.”

The “Legally Blonde” Witherspoon has spoken up about AI before, calling it “the future of filmmaking” in a Glamour interview last year. She also acknowledged on Tuesday the validity of the concerns commenters had raised.

“I don’t believe computers should replace humanity,” Witherspoon said. “I’m planning on learning as much as possible so that I’m educated about this technological revolution.”

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