ASPEN, July 3 -- Jodie Foster was not trying to start a fight when she said F1 was made by artificial intelligence. She was offering something less comfortable than criticism: the observation that she could not tell the difference.

Speaking this week on a panel titled "Who Owns the Future of Hollywood" at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Foster sat alongside former Sony Pictures Entertainment chief Michael Lynton and offered a candid assessment of where the industry stands with algorithmic technology. The two-time Academy Award winner, whose filmography spans four decades of sharply varied work, turned her attention to one of this year's most decorated blockbusters.

"F1 was made by AI. Wasn't it?" Foster said, according to The Hollywood Report...