As the newest installment of the James Bond franchise, No Time to Die, makes its way to movie theaters, fans are left to wonder who will be taking on Daniel Craig's titular role in the next movies. Turns out, the answer depends on who (or, rather, what) you ask.
Largo.ai, an award-winning artificial intelligence (AI) software provider, thinks British actor Henry Cavill to be the wisest choice as the next 007.
According to the official press release surrounding the news, the software put actors and actresses head-to-head and created "a DNA footprint of each actor which comprises over 1,000 on-screen character attributes, such as character typology, story elements and cinematographic tones." The system also took into account the film's actual character ("James Bond rather than Sean Connery, the actor," the release explains) and compared all the data against historic movies.
When analyzing a pool strictly comprised of British actors, the AI software selected Henry Cavill as the top runner-up—with a 92.3% match. The results are pretty on-point as Cavill was on the shortlist to take on the role back in 2005, but was eventually deemed too young to do so. Richard Armitage (92%), Idris Elba (90.9%) and Charlie Hunnam (90.6%) round up the shortlist.
The system also extended the roster of potential candidates to include non-British actors. New Zealand star Karl Urban topped that list with a 96.7% match, followed by American actors Chris Evans (93.9%) and Will Smith (92.2%).
When queried about potential female Bonds, the program suggested Gina Carano (97.3%), Katee Sackhoff (94.4%), Angelina Jolie (94.2%) and Milla Jovovich (93.1%).
Whether you agree with the AI-powered recommendations or not, we must admit that they're pretty on-point. We can personally imagine any of these actors jumping off planes, avoiding explosions and flying across the world to save humanity from the next disaster.
But the system didn't solely take a prospective look: Largo.ai turned to the past to create a ranking of the best ever Bond actors to date. To the surprise of just about nobody, the great Roger Moore topped that list with a 91.8% match, followed by Pierce Brosnan (90.8%), Sean Connery (90.3%) and Timothy Dalton (88.5%). It seems like artificial intelligence is much more human-like than we've given it credit for.