George Clooney warns artificial intelligence is a threat to truth and journalism

U.S. actor George Clooney has warned that advances in artificial intelligence make it increasingly difficult to separate truth from fiction, creating problems for journalists, governments and the public.

Speaking at the Venice Film Festival to receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, the actor, filmmaker and political activist noted that deepfakes and AI content erode trust in information.

"It's getting harder and harder for us to discern the truth," Clooney told reporters, noting the technology could make people question authentic evidence.

"Worse than that, because you poison the well of saying 'maybe this is true', 'maybe this isn't', then when you see real things that are really true, people are able to say, 'Well, that's fake'," he said.

The two-time Oscar winner, recognised for justice campaigns, said he recently met leading AI developers and remains unconvinced current safeguards will keep pace.

"Everybody's working furiously at it, and I haven't seen any great strides yet in success," he said, joking he hoped his likeness would not be used posthumously.

"I would like to avoid being in a tampon commercial 20 years after I'm dead," he said.

He tied AI risks to concerns over journalism, warning media ownership is concentrated among a few wealthy individuals.

"The richest people in the world right now are owning the Washington Post and Twitter and most of the places we get our information, and that is a concern," he said, pointing to Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

"The state of journalism is always in flux, always challenged," he said. "But I do believe that information will find its way out."

He also questioned Paramount's proposed buy-out of Warner Bros, saying consolidation often brings job losses and rarely succeeds. "I don't see how it financially ends up making sense ... but we'll see."

Clooney collected the career honour following nearly thirty years of attending the festival, starting with "Out of Sight" in 1998.

Reflecting on the award at 65, Clooney joked that age brings melancholy.

"Everything is melancholy," he said. "You brush your teeth and think: 'My teeth used to be so much nicer.'"