Topline
Leaders of the striking actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, criticized the Hollywood studios Thursday for an alleged proposal that would allow them to use AI-generated replicas of background actors in perpetuity in return for a single day’s pay, outlining the growing concerns about the use of artificial intelligence tools by studios to replace human performers and creatives.
Actor, Fran Drescher (L) and president of the SAG-AFTRA Union and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA … [+] National Executive Director, lead a press conference announcing that actors are going on strike, after negotiations with studios failed, at the SAG-AFTRA Plaza in Los Angeles, California.
Key Facts
After the actors began their strike Thursday, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) which represents major Hollywood studios and streaming platforms issued a statement saying its offer to actors included a “groundbreaking AI proposal.”
The studios’ trade group said the proposal would protect “performers’ digital likenesses” and would require consent from actors for “the creation and use of digital replicas or for digital alterations of a performance.”
Commenting on the proposal SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said the studios are offering one day’s pay to background actors who chose to get their likeness scanned.
The studios would then “own that scan, their image, their likeness, and be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation,” Crabtree-Ireland added.
Tangent
Similar concerns about the use of AI had been raised by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) when it began its strike in May. The guild’s proposal called for the regulation of AI use, including a ban on AI writing or rewriting “literary material,” use of AI to generate source material for writers and preventing the training of AI tools on material written by the guild’s writers. The AMPTP rejected this proposal and instead offered to hold annual meetings “to discuss advancements in technology.”
Key Background
SAG-AFTRA began its strike at midnight on Thursday, joining an ongoing strike by the WGA, bringing all film and television production to a halt. The dual strikes are Hollywood’s most widespread work stoppage in more than six decades. Aside from regulating the use of AI, both unions are also seeking an improved residual payments structure as the industry’s pivot towards streaming upends payments from home video sales and syndication on TV.
Further Reading
Actors say Hollywood studios want their AI replicas — for free, forever (The Verge)
Striking SAG Actors in Disbelief Over Studios’ Dystopian AI Proposal (Rolling Stone)
Actors’ Union SAG-AFTRA Will Go On Strike—Shutting Down Hollywood (Forbes)
