I made this image for an article I’m writing called “Dominion Over the Machines” about how the SAG-AFTRA AI precedents (if ratified) may move things forward not just for actors, but for every human that may face non-humans doing their work.
A deliberate tactic of SAG-AFTRA during contract negotiations was to make hiring actors the most affordable solution companies have, to make replacing actors with digital things impractical.
We need contractual, legislative & judicial safeguards in place to keep things more fair for everyone on all sides of every deal. We must own & control our likenesses & voices. Full stop.
Laws, courts & contracts will have to make things work better.
The entertainment industry is not the tech industry. Doing things like the tech industry does them is not what the entertainment industry is about, even if the CEOs forget that.
The AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA had to agree this month to have the word “telegraph” replaced with the words “email or text” in the tentative agreement. North America hasn’t had a telegraph system since 2006.