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How Hollywood Agents Are Addressing Potential Risks Of AI For Their Clients
Actor, director and cinematographer Mark Gray holds a sign reading "No A.I." as writers and actors staged a solidarity march through Hollywood to Paramount Studios on Sept. 13, 2023.
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Frederic J. Brown
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
Hollywood’s top talent lawyers, as well as one of the industry’s major agencies, are proactively working to protect their clients — writers, actors and so forth — as artificial intelligence continues to accelerate and studios seek to adopt it.
Why it matters: AI was a contentious issue during 2023’s labor negotiations, and it is expected to be an issue during the upcoming IATSE talks. The two primary issues are using prior work to train AI models and the use of digital replicas of actors’ likeness and voice.
What lawyers want for talent: While they wait for the courts to adjudicate copyright issues regarding using protected material for training data, attorneys are leveraging their relationships to maintain norms. They are proactively seeking new laws that would expand an individual's rights of privacy and publicity. They are also advocating for an international body for AI akin to the one that governs copyright law across jurisdictions.
The AI opportunity: The agency CAA has launched a “vault” in which it is storing certain (unnamed) clients’ digital twins. The agency anticipates a market in being able to allow stars to be in two places at once using their AI double. It also sees the chance to be able to shield them from bad actors creating unauthorized deepfakes.
Who might be left out: One lawyer worries that below-the-line workers, such as crafts people, and non-union ones may be most at risk to be exploited by the use of AI instead of hiring them.
For more . . . read the full story on The Ankler.
This story is published in partnership with The Ankler, a paid subscription publication about the entertainment industry.
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