Joseph Gordon-Levitt Launches Newsletter to Speak Out on Urgent Issues: 'There Are Things That Worry Me' (Exclusive)

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt has launched a new Substack newsletter, Joe’s Journal
• The actor writes candidly about cultural interests and issues, seeking to connect with a growing online community
• His newest topic, artificial intelligence, is one of many inspired by the realities his kids face today

Joseph Gordon-Levitt isn’t one to hold back when it comes to addressing issues he cares about. As he puts it, “sometimes I've got stuff on my mind that I want to just get out there.” 

The Inception star, 44, launched his own Substack in February, called Joe’s Journal, to connect with an online community engaged in a variety of cultural interests and issues. Writing and recording the newsletter’s first two discussion-generating topics — the authentic weirdness of rock band Nirvana and the state of modern politics — are just the beginning, he tells PEOPLE. 

“I've always been a big user of technology to connect with community and audiences,” says Gordon-Levitt, noting that he’s “less and less inspired” by algorithm-driven social media. “Substack feels it's just a new great way of going back to the basics.” 

In fact, Joe’s Journal reminds the (500) Days of Summer star of the early days of HitRecord, the online community of creators he launched in 2005 that has led to a membership of hundreds of thousands and earned Gordon-Levitt two Emmy Awards. “I was posting journal entries on this little website that my brother helped me set up,” he recalls of the platform’s origins. “In a lot of ways, this Substack is a return to that.”

But the aptly titled Joe’s Journal faces a different landscape of cultural and social phenomena. Take Gordon-Levitt’s fiery Wednesday, March 26 entry about artificial intelligence, which he argues is primed to make drastic — and potentially unfair — changes to Hollywood and beyond. 

“The entertainment industry might be the canary in the coal mine, but everybody with jobs throughout almost any industry in our whole economy has to be paying attention to how this technology is evolving,” he tells PEOPLE. 

“Anybody whose work is delivered on a computer, that data can be sucked up by these [AI] companies. And what they're currently saying is, ‘Hey, we don't have to pay you’ … To me, this sets a really bad precedent.”

The Killer Heat star is quick to add that AI can be a tool for good. “When I think about the upsides of what this technology could do, it's super exciting,” he says. But, he reiterates, “if it's going to be good for everybody and not just good for a few big businesses, then it's got to be set up in a fair way.”

Many of his Hollywood screen partners agree. Friend and Poker Face star Natasha Lyonne recently led an open letter, signed by the likes of Mark Ruffalo, Aubrey Plaza and Cynthia Erivo, urging the government to uphold copyright laws amid the loosening of AI regulations. Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon costar Scarlett Johansson spoke out last month about the “1000-foot wave coming” after her likeness was used against her will, denouncing "the misuse of A.I., no matter what its messaging” in a statement.

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The dangers of AI also constitute a newsletter topic because of the implications the tech holds for children, Gordon-Levitt points out. “Ask any parent, ‘What do you think of the way your kid relates to social media?’ Everyone's worried,” he says. “AI is going to be like social media, but a lot more powerful. And a lot worse… There's concrete proof that a lot of the biggest technology companies today target kids in a merciless way.”

Gordon-Levitt, who shares three children he keeps out of the spotlight with wife Tasha McCauley, says parenthood informs “the whole thing” when it comes to speaking out about urgent issues in Joe’s Journal and beyond. “Being a dad, you can't help but fall in love with the future. Your kids are the future. You can't help but think about what it's going to be like… And there are things that worry me.”

Of course, Gordon-Levitt’s kids are also the very reason he can’t give in to despair. “You see young kids that are so eager and positive about the world and curious and asking questions and genuinely wanting to do the right thing,” he says. “Spending time with young people is just a never-ending fountain of optimism.”