Hollywood Against AI: Hollywood vs AI: Why actors and writers are against studios ‘AI’ plans – Times of India

For only the second time ever, Hollywood is on strike. The Screen Actors Guild has joined the Writers Guild to demand protection against artificial intelligence, which the studios think is the future of streaming, and the opportunity to save money.
SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents over 160,000 actors, voice artists, presenters, and more, has joined the Writer’s Guild of America, which represents Hollywood screenwriters and has been on strike for more than two months, Both demand a contract that explicitly demands AI regulations to protect artists and their works.
“Artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to creative professions” and that actors and performers deserve a contractual language that protects them from having their identity and talent exploited without consent and pay, said, Fran Drescher, President of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).
Hollywood and AI: A toxic relationship?
Studios have used AI for a long time. Some models have enhanced performances, such as placing new lips speaking different languages on actors and improving de-aging effects. AI was also used to allow actors to play younger versions of themselves in films spanning several decades. Some projects replicate retired actors’ voices using AI.
However, the concern is bigger this time around, as studios want to own the digital likeliness of actors while not paying them for their work.
A Black Mirror episode or a gnarly future?
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers proposed an AI proposal to protect performers’ digital likenesses and require consent for their use.
Apparently, the studios proposed scanning background performers for a day’s pay while owning their image and likeness for eternity. In reply to the alliance’s proposal, Crabtree-Ireland, the general council of the actors guild, said, “If you think that is a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again.”
The use of generative AI is a major issue in negotiations between the two sides whether the actors or writers. and Drescher has warned the actors that it is time to stand up for their rights, and if they do not stand tall now, they will all be in danger of being replaced by machines. Even the writers fear the same.
On strike for about two months, the writers guild demands protection against the AI, asking the producers that “AI cannot write or rewrite literary material, can’t be used as source material, and works covered by union contracts can’t be used to train AI.”
The guild argues that concerns around generative AI are similar to how it was about the ethical use of CGI at once. But, it is the immense flexibility and modest requirements that make it capable yet dangerous and deserving of our attention and efforts.
Doesn’t all of this seem like a Black Mirror episode? Well, it is, and if you have seen Salma Hayek‘s episode, “Joan is Awful,” you might remember how it went down. Hayek Pinault portrays a fictionalised version of herself who sells her AI rights. Later, she discovers that she no longer controls her image.
The same is what all the actors and even writers fear, losing all control over their work, eventually cutting holes in their pockets, while the studios keep pumping out new content, making money on money.