LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Search Wes Anderson on YouTube and you’ll find that the famous director with his distinctive style is the director of adaptations of ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Harry Potter,’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ starring Bill. I found a trailer that seems to have been made for. Murray, Scarlett Johansson and other stars.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, fake movie trailers can be created by people without real actors and with far fewer resources than the big Hollywood studios, the SAG-AFTRA Actors Guild announced on June 7. There was a lot of discussion about this issue, which would come to the negotiating table when we started labor negotiations with the studio. .
AI is already disrupting studios, and film and TV writers want assurances that emerging technologies won’t be used to generate their scripts.
SAG-AFTRA wants union members to have control over the use of “digital doubles” and studios to ensure proper pay for physical actors, said union chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree. Mr Ireland said.
“Performers’ names, likenesses, voices and personalities, these are the performers’ stocks and trades,” said Crabtree Ireland. “It’s really unfair that companies are using personas in such a way and not fairly rewarding their performers for doing so.”
Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves have already been widely viewed as targets of unauthorized deepfakes, realistic but fabricated videos created by AI algorithms. Reeves called the technology “scary,” in part because it can be deployed without actor input.
Interest in generative AI exploded around the world after OpenAI, backed by Microsoft Corp, released ChatGPT, the fastest growing app of all time, in November. US and European regulators are calling for guardrails to prevent misinformation, bias, piracy and invasion of privacy.
Actors and screenwriters envision a variety of scenarios in which studios seek to reduce costs and increase revenue using generative AI that can feed existing material and pump out new content. The technology is already being used to erase age marks and change mouth movements to synchronize with the words when dubbing shows into different languages.
Actor Leland Morrill said he’s worked on a set surrounded by cameras taking pictures from every angle.
“With that kind of content, they could use you for a part of it and create the rest of the character, so we’re no longer on set and no one gets paid.” You won’t be able to,” Morrill said at a multi-union rally in Los Angeles. Angeles.
Producer, author, and former “Family Ties” actor Justin Bateman, with a degree in computer science, is sounding the alarm about AI. He said companies could allow fans to create their own “Star Wars” movies and add themselves for an additional fee.
Or a studio could take footage from a popular 1980s TV show like “Family Ties” and use AI to create a new season.
Some parties have endorsed certain uses of AI.
The upcoming Indiana Jones movie will feature a scene in which 80-year-old star Harrison Ford looks 40 years younger. He said Walt Disney’s Lucasfilm used images of his own face taken during the 1980s “Indiana Jones” films.
In an interview with late-night show host Stephen Colbert, Ford called his youthful on-screen appearance “amazing.”
According to Vanity Fair, James Earl Jones, now 92, has agreed to allow AI to recreate the menacing voice he gave Darth Vader to keep him alive. It is said that AI helped Disney cast the late Carrie Fisher in the 2019 film The Rise of Skywalker with her daughter’s blessing.
Crabtree Ireland, president of SAG-AFTRA, said different actors have different levels of comfort with how AI is being used, so the union is in talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the body representing Disney and Netflix. He said he would insist on informed consent. Inc and other studios.
A representative for AMPTP declined to comment on its position on the actors’ use of AI.
In negotiations with the Writers Guild of America (WGA), AMPTP suggested discussing the subject once a year, but the WGA saw it as an attempt to sidestep the issue. The WGA has been on strike since May 2 over AI and compensation.
If SAG-AFTRA can’t come to an agreement on AI or other issues, the actors could go on strike, further increasing the pressure on studios. Ahead of the negotiations, SAG-AFTRA leaders called on member states to give them the power to go on strike if necessary. Voting to approve the strike ends on Monday.
Both unions hope to play it safe before AI becomes widely used.
Former SAG board member Bateman derided AI as “automatic imitation,” which could lead to a future filled with past entertainment rehashes.
“I don’t want to live in that kind of world,” Bateman said. “What’s the next genre for movies? What’s the next genre for music? If we’re all using AI, we’ll never see anything like it.”
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; additional reporting by Jorge Ramos and Dawn Chimierewski; editing by Mary Milliken and David Gregorio)
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