The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is officially hitting the picket lines, and during the press conference today announced the news, guild leadership delved deeper into one particularly concerning issue that performers have brought up in contract negotiations: AI.
It’s not been a secret that protections against artificial intelligence-based technology using actors’ likenesses without their consent or compensation was one of SAG-AFTRA’s big sticking points. But during today’s announcement, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland passionately went into more details about what Hollywood studios offered in regards to AI – and it’s pretty shocking.
Responding to a question about what the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (the organization that bargains on behalf of Hollywood’s studios) called a “groundbreaking” AI proposal to protect performers’ digital likenesses, Crabtree-Ireland didn’t mince words.
“If you think that’s a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again.
“In that ‘groundbreaking’ AI proposal, they proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their companies should own that scan, their image, their likeness, and for people to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation,” he said. “So if you think that’s a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again.”
It’s not an exaggeration to say that that proposal sounds like it was taken right from a Black Mirror episode. Seriously, that was basically the premise of its Season 6 episode Joan Is Awful.
You can watch his response below.
— Culture Crave ? (@CultureCrave) July 13, 2023
AI came up earlier in the press conference as well, with SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher (who’s since been cheered on online for her impassioned speech) saying as she announced the strike, “The entire business model has been changed by streaming and AI”
“If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in jeopardy,” she continued. “You cannot change the business model as much as it has been changed and not expect the contract to change too.”
SAG-AFTRA’s strike, which commences at midnight, marks the first time it has hit the picket lines in conjunction with the Writers Guild of America since 1960.
For more on how AI is affecting entertainment, check out our report about how it’s become a new battlefield in the animation industry and how voice actors are speaking out against AI-generated NSFW Skyrim mods.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
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