Meta is reportedly wooing Hollywood stars with millions of dollars in a bid to lend their voices for its future generative AI projects, several people familiar with the company told Bloomberg.
According to sources, Facebook and Instagram's parent company is already negotiating with Judi Dench, Awkwafina, and Keegan-Michael Key to replicate their likenesses over a single project digitally.
Details of the supposed AI project were not specified as negotiations stopped and restarted several times over licensing disputes and use limitations.
Sources claimed that Meta intends to secure rights for the actors' voices for a fixed term across various purposes, while the actors' representatives seek further limits.
Hollywood Actors Remain Hesitant with AI Deals
Hollywood performers making deals with AI firms have been increasing following the labor strike from last year that helped provide actors better legal protections, although many remain hesitant amid numerous reports of generative AI abuse.
Aside from a few actors and directors, much of the industry has expressed negative reactions to the technology and its risk to their livelihood, safety, and privacy.
So far, Meta has supposedly been able to secure an agreement from SAG-AFTRA, the union group many performers are part of.
Both Meta's and the mentioned actors' representatives did not provide a statement to Bloomberg regarding the supposed deals.
Meta Doubles Down on AI Chatbots, Digital Replicas
This was not the first time Meta has been reported for securing deals with Hollywood performers in its bid to race against other tech firms in AI development.
The social media company had previously reached similar deals with other notable online personalities when it launched AI chatbots on Instagram last year.
Now is especially a critical moment for Meta to secure more AI deals as the company is set to unveil new AI tools in its upcoming Connect 2024 event this September.
So far, the company has already reached an agreement with Apple to lend its technology for several features the tech giant plans to introduce in its Apple Intelligence system
Meta has also increased its connection with AI chipmaker NVIDIA to help build more advanced AI models for content creators and small businesses.
