Actor spokesperson on AI: “Society must wake up. Affects everyone”

The chief negotiator of the Screen Actors Guild hollywood (SAG-AFTRA), Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, assured that the dispute that his union maintains against the big studios, due to the use of AI among other reasons, is a fight that “affects everyone” and “society must wake up.

“Now it is OK. Society must wake up. Affects everyone. This (the AI) does not advance alone, behind it there are very powerful people working to make it grow and continue earning money”, affirmed this Friday the also director of the national executive of the collective of interpreters of the United States during the second day of Comic-Con 2023.

Although union guidelines prohibit its 160,000 members from lavishing themselves at public events during the strike that began last Thursday, Crabtree-Ireland decided to participate in a panel titled “Artificial Intelligence in entertainment: the artists’ perspective”.

The theme of the event, organized by the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA), is precisely one of the main obstacles that separate SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild (WGA) of the Film and Television Producers Alliance when signing a new agreement for the next three years.

The representative of SAG-AFTRA argued that, for negotiations to prosper, entertainment companies must offer consent protocols “clear, detailed and fair” in which it is established whether they will recreate their voice or interpretations through digital replicas.

“Voice actors are suffering the consequences of AI before anyone else. We need rules that protect the rights of your creations”, he stated.

Crabtree-Ireland was joined by NAVA Chairman and Co-Founder Tim Friedlander, as well as voiceover performer Zeke Alton, among others.

Alton himself, who is also a member of SAG-AFTRA, clarified that they are not “against the AI”, but of the use of technology so that “some rich people steal other people’s work without any consent”.

“The world changes, but AI can be a tool for all of us to grow or a way for 1% of super-rich gentlemen to continue filling their pockets”, stated the actor.

Thus, SAG-AFTRA and NAVA agreed to publicly request the establishment of regulations that limit misappropriation by film studios and streaming platforms of dubbing, sound resources or voice-overs for films, series or video games.

“We are working so that this problem has a global solution. It is harming all the sectors involved and, with the relocation of production processes, it must be controlled in America, Europe or Africa, wherever”Friedlander wielded.

On Thursday of last week, the first simultaneous strike of SAG-AFTRA and WGA began in 63 years, which keeps the US entertainment industry paralyzed by not reaching an agreement with the large media conglomerates on issues such as AI or residual rights, economic compensation they receive every time their works are reproduced via streaming.

Source: EFE