SAG-AFTRA Seeks to Write AI Protections Into California Law
09.04.2024 - 15:23
/ variety.com
Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Would you buy a car from an AI chatbot? What if it looked and talked like Tom Hanks? These are the sorts of questions kicking around Sacramento, where lawmakers are considering a slew of proposals to regulate artificial intelligence. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing Hollywood actors, is pushing for legislation that would require detailed consent for the use of “digital replicas.” In a separate bill, the union also wants to prevent studios from putting dead performers in movies without the consent of their heirs.
Underscoring the contentiousness around AI, the Motion Picture Association has come out against the digital replicas bill. If passed, the California measures would expand significantly on AI provisions won during last year’s 118-day SAG-AFTRA strike, which limit what studios can do in movies and scripted TV shows.
The bill requiring consent for digital replicas, AB 2602, would apply more broadly to all sorts of performance contracts, including audiobooks, videogames, product endorsements and musical performances. The union is not trying to stop actors from cashing in on their AI avatars, who could be enlisted for everything from selling mortgages to giving Zoom therapy.
But it does want to make sure that such permission is knowingly granted. Existing performance contracts often include sweeping language that allows exploitation “throughout the universe,” “in all media whether now known or hereafter devised.” Such terms could be read to allow AI replicas without further compensation.
The bill would prohibit that, making such provisions “unconscionable” and incapable of being enforced. “We live in a world where your replica can do your work for you,” said Jeffrey Bennett, general
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