California Leading The Fight Against Hollywood AI Abuse
Ever since computer wizardry was used to bring everyone from Peter Cushing to Christopher Reeve back to life on the big screen, audiences have pondered whether we are heading to a ghoulish future where famous corpses will continue to get reanimated in the name of big box office profits. Furthermore, there have been increasing concerns that living actors will get digitally replaced, but now it looks like a surprising player is trying to end Hollywood AI abuse for good. California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a couple of SAG-AFTRA-sponsored bills that effectively make replacing an actor with AI illegal.
New Bills Prevent AI Abuse In Film
Bill AB 1836 “prohibits the use of a deceased person’s voice or likeness in digital replicas without the prior consent of their estate.” And bill AB 2602 “prohibits contractual provisions that would allow for the use of a digital replica of an individual’s voice or likeness in place of the individual’s actual services” unless the actor has fully consented to its very specific use. Collectively, these California bills are designed to stop Hollywood’s potential AI abuse dead in its tracks.
AI And The Deceased
When it comes to these bills, you could say that we’re getting something new and something old. For example, part of what the first bill does is to remove some of the exceptions that Hollywood already enjoyed when it came to using AI to replicate dead actors.
SAG-AFTRA’s Fight Against AI
The second bill, though, is the first of its kind and arguably serves as one of the strongest protections for actors worried about AI impacting their careers. While these bills offer state-level protections in California, various labor unions and SAG-AFTRA are promoting support for the No Fakes Act brought before Congress that would make AI abuse illegal on a federal level.
Speaking of SAG-AFTRA, if you closely followed their strike against Hollywood last year, you know that they have been fiercely pushing back against AI abuse. Specifically, they advocated that actors must consent to the use of AI replication and be properly compensated for it.
Such advocacy was important because there were (and still are) concerns that studios would make digital copies of everyone from extras to lead actors and try to use them in perpetuity for free without any compensation for the performers.
Can Still Use, But Only With Proper Consent
SAG-AFTRA’s original advocacy mostly applied to living actors, but part of what makes these bills so important is that they offer important protections for deceased Hollywood performers who might get digitally reanimated without the consent of either the actor or their estate.
Now, deceased actors can still be digitally recreated, but studios must have consent and provide proper compensation. A great example of this is James Earl Jones, who sold the rights to Disney to recreate his iconic Darth Vader voice for future Star Wars films and shows.
A Step Forward
In Hollywood and beyond, AI remains a bit like the Wild West…some creators think that the sky is the limit at what computer magic can now do, but critics caution against embracing technology at the expense of real actors (living or dead).
These bills are a powerful step forward in offering the protection that performers deserve and may offer a road map to making AI abuse illegal at the federal level. That could do something that most of us can fully get behind: ensuring that Hollywood retains most of its humanity despite the best intentions of tech bros and CEOs alike.
Source: IndieWire
