Actors Push Back Against Hollywood’s ‘AI Proposal’

Actors and actresses are not happy to be replaced with AI versions of themselves.

Leaders at the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have announced the Guild will go on strike following a "groundbreaking AI proposal" from Hollywood studios.

The SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, and other media professionals to secure the "strongest protections for media artists into the 21st century and beyond," per its About page.

An Acting Career(?) After Death

Disney's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" movie is one of the good Star Wars media the company released since buying the IP from George Lucas in 2012, per Movie Web. The movie featured actors who digitally wore the likeness of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher - actors that had already passed away before the movie's release.

While the choice to have people digitally wear their likeness is odd for some since they seem to look like they're from the uncanny valley, it does create a way for Hollywood to bring back an actor despite their passing in some way.

That is what the Alliance of Motion Picture of Television Producers (AMPTP) want to happen to actors and actresses years after they're gone if the SAG-AFTRA is to be believed. According to a report from Engadget, AMPTP said that it proposed to protect performers' digital likenesses through AI.

The AMPTP explained that the AI proposal would require a performer's consent to have their likeness recorded and have it used as a digital replica or for digital alterations of a performance. Unfortunately, while big-shot Hollywood performers might be spared from this choice, background performers don't.

According to AFTRA leader Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the proposal mentioned that background performers should be able to get their likeness scanned, get one day's pay, and possibly never work again, per Gizmodo. They added that the AMPTP intends to use their scanned likeness for the rest of eternity in any project they want without consent and compensation.

The proposal is the latest development in the trend of Hollywood studios' use of technology to de-age, resurrect, and even fully replace actors in films.

SAG-AFTRA's Response

Crabtree-Ireland then said that anyone should think twice before they think the AI proposal the AMPTP presented was groundbreaking. "Actors deserve a contract that reflects the changes that have taken place in the industry," Crabtree-Ireland said during the press conference announcing the strike. "The current model devalues our members and affects their ability to make ends meet."

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher agrees with Crabtree-Ireland, saying that AI poses an existential threat to creative professions.

She added that all actors and performers deserve contract language that protects them from having their identity and talent exploited without consent and pay. "Despite our team's dedication to advocating on your behalf, the AMPTP has refused to acknowledge that enormous shifts in the industry and economy have had a detrimental impact on those who perform labor for the studios," Drescher added.

The SAG-AFTRA's strike is the first time it is joining the Writer's Guild of America in a public protest at the same time since the 1960s.