Hollywood is gearing up for another union battle this week, and a big topic will be how actors are paid for work done by their "digital doubles" created using artificial intelligence.
"The rapid advances in generative AI technology over the last 18 months has been something we have been observing in real time [and] it's already affecting our members," Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief negotiator at the SAG-AFTRA actors' union, told the Financial Times.
AI has been a key concern in the current round of contract negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) — which represents Hollywood entertainment companies — and the directors' and writers' guilds, but for actors it might be even more vital because the AI future is already here. Convincing deepfakes of Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise have popped up on TikTok, de-aging technology has become standard on projects like the upcoming "Indiana Jones" sequel with Harrison Ford, and James Earl Jones even allowed his voice to be recreated by AI so his iconic rendition of Darth Vader could live on in perpetuity.
Actors want to ensure they are paid appropriately for work by their "digital doubles" and are able to give "informed consent" about how those doubles will be used, Crabtree-Ireland told the FT.
"The performer's name, likeness, voice, persona — those are the performer's stock and trade," Crabtree-Ireland told Reuters. "It's really not fair for companies to attempt to take advantage of that and not fairly compensate performers when they're using their persona in that way."
SAG-AFTRA reps will meet with AMPTP negotiaotors on Wednesday to begin contract talks.
While Hollywood writers are still on strike, the Directors Guild of America on Saturday reached a tentative agreement with the studios, part of which touched on AI. There was "agreement confirming that AI is not a person and that generative AI cannot replace the duties performed by members," Variety reported.
But the actors will be seeking more than that. Crabtree-Ireland told the FT that the starting point for negotiations would be getting union-scale payments for work using digital doubles.
And while the use of AI might scare some actors, others in Hollywood are embracing the potential paydays the tech could bring.
"Actors . . . could end up being in multiple places at once because these tools could help them execute different projects at different stages," Hilary Krane, chief legal officer at CAA, told the FT.
