International animation unions, federal and organisations are seeking action on the use of artificial intelligence, citing the disruptive impact of animation crafts and business, and industry workers.
A coalition of organizations with more than two dozen numbers in total has issued a statement (read in full below) calling for regulators and lawmakers to enact laws protecting workers and their rights. They also ask producers, showrunners and industry executives to protect the creative culture of animation and prioritize work created by workers and humans.
Organizations signing and supporting the statement include ABRACA (Belgium, Animation Worker Union), AWI (Animation Worker Union, Ireland), CSVI (Video Game Union, Spain), Laguild Françoes Des Senalistes (Writers Union, France), SNTPCT (Animation/VFX Worker, Animation GU) USA), SPIAC-CGT (French Animation Worker Union), and Kunsten Bond (Illustrations, Comics, Animation Worker Union, Netherlands).
In addition to the statement, the coalition is inviting all animation workers, students and allies attending Annecy next week to press and media to public town halls. It will take place on Thursday, June 12th at 2pm in Pakie, a large, flat esplanade in front of Bonli. See the map below for meeting locations.
Here is the full statement from the Alliance on Artificial Intelligence.
The dangers of the animation industry: global unions declare emergency in the face of generative AI use
It is undeniable that the animation industry has suffered so much over the past few years. Streaming economics has proven to be ineffective at all, and increased spending during the pandemic has led to an inevitable burst of streaming bubbles. It is workers placed on false promises who are feeling the impact through the massive layoffs, increasing numbers of outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions leading to studio closures and budget declines. This is reflected in multiple audiovisual entertainment industries and affects workers in the animation, music, VFX and gaming industries.
The rapid expansion of generation AI in animation is driven by the perceived belief that it is the answer to these developments. Working in these industries is a constant battle to prove our economic value to a very few people, and for those people, Genai brings good things to make a good offer a true one too good.
Generator AI is neither a tool, effective nor inexpensive. It's a flawed, destructive, and expensive to run. Genai is literally constructed and portrayed not only from the cultural values and norms of local people embedded in those works, but also from the works. It poses an immediate threat to creative innovation and renewal, replacing the richness and diversity that characterizes human creativity, and is replaced by creativity shaped by the biases of those who control and use it. It actively drives creatives out of their respective industries. This leads to an inevitable loss of knowledge and talent that will never be fully recovered, but also directly to the privatization of all art processes and thought.
Genai is a technology that tries to destroy artists rather than support them. Human absence is a feature, not a bug in AI art. It's not a tool. We do not “usage” genai. We will negotiate with it and try to do what we want. Genai only promises job loss and livelihoods for millions of people around the world who are committed to maintaining connection through the world's arts.
Unfortunately, the audiovisual industry is not the sole victim of this increasingly damaging technological development. This same technology has been used to promote dissent, confusion and mistrust among the public, and has broader meaning beyond international security, including the production of criminal evidence and news, deepfake pornography, and new forms of sexual harassment, including privacy violations. This unidentified growth and unfair technological optimism comes with incredible environmental consequences, including growing demand for computing, greater carbon footprint, changing patterns of electricity demand, accelerated depletion of natural resources, and even misuse without respecting human rights.
Therefore, there is a need for a protective framework for the ethical and fair use of AI. To do this, we refer to the International Labour Organization (ILO) research overview that proposes the concept of “3CS” (compensation, compensation for the use of creators' work, management of informed consent, informed consent), but nationally and internationally, it manages the workforce transition through skill development and the use of social protection to support affected workers.
- Agree: A reasonable balance between technological innovation on the one hand and sustainable and powerful cultural and creative sectors on the one hand, requires that training AI in copyrighted works is only possible with the (informed) consent of the authors of those works.
- compensation: Performers and creators should be significantly compensated for their use of works, including, but not limited to, illustrations, animations, writing, voicework, similarities, or images of AI-generated content.
- control: Creators, such as writers, musicians, filmmakers, visual artists and other experts, need to be able to control how AI systems use, adapt or reproduce work, identity, and creative input. This control ensures that creators' intellectual property (IP), labor and reputation are respected and that they receive fair recognition and compensation. To achieve this, creators need to understand what AI, especially genai, entails. Institutions must also be built between them to negotiate relevant terms of employment.
Calls on regulators, lawmakers and government Draft and implement laws that protect the culture and arts, and the value it offers, and those workers and their rights.
We invite producers, showrunners, studio heads and production staff. To understand and protect our creative culture and prioritize both our workers and our work.
We call all creative workers The whole world unites. Please support human works. Please oppose the implementation of AI. We ask that you have accumulated a coalition with your fellow workers to protect our arts and culture, our work, and our livelihoods.
Signature and Support:
- Abrakha (Belgium, Animation Worker Union)
- Agraf (France, Director, Graphic Authors, Writers Association)
- AWI (Ireland, Animation Worker Union)
- cnt-sipmcs (France, Press Media Culture, and Show Union)
- CSVI (Spain, Video Games Association)
- FIA (International Federation of Actors)
- FIM (International League of Musicians)
- FNSAC-CGT (A union of France, CGT Union)
- Laguild Française Death Sennalist (France, Writers Union)
- GWUI (Ireland, Video Games Workers Union)
- Les Intervalles (France, Association for Abuse and Discrimination in Animation)
- Kunstenbond (Netherlands, illustrations, comics, animation workers)
- La Ligue des Auteurs Professionals (France, Authors' Union)
- Syndicat des Scénaristes (France, Writers' Union)
- SFA-CGT (French, actor dubbed, comedian union)
- Snam-CGT (France, Musician Union)
- SNTPCT (France, Animation, VFX Workers Union)
- SPIAC-CGT (France, Animation Worker Union)
- STJV (France, Video Game Worker Union)
- Animation Guild (America, Animation Workers, Writers Union)
- Touchepasàmavf (Actor dubbing the association against France, Genai)
- Uni Mei (International Art and Entertainment Alliance)
- UNIE VAN subscribers (Director Union, Belgium)
- United voice artists (A union of international voice acting guilds, associations and unions)
- Les Voix (Dub and Comedian from the French Actors Association)
