A search for Wes Anderson on YouTube turns up trailers that the famed director with a distinctive style appears to have made for adaptations of 'Star Wars', 'Harry Potter' and 'The Lord of the Rings' featuring Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, and other stars. Artificial intelligence allowed people with no real actors and far smaller resources than major Hollywood studios to generate the fake movie trailers, feeding debate on the issue that will be on the bargaining table when the SAG-AFTRA actors union begins labor talks with studios on June 7.
AI already has divided studios and striking film and
television writers, who want assurances that the emerging technology will not
be used to generate scripts.
SAG-AFTRA wants to ensure its members can control use of
their 'digital doubles' and ensure studios pay the actual actors appropriately,
said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union's chief negotiator. "The
performer's name, likeness, voice, persona - those are the performer's stock
and trade," Crabtree-Ireland said. "It's really not fair for
companies to attempt to take advantage of that and not fairly compensate
performers when they're using their persona in that way."
Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves already have been the subject of
widely viewed unauthorized deepfakes - realistic yet fabricated videos created
by AI algorithms. Reeves called the technology 'scary', in part because it can
be deployed without actors' input. Interest in generative AI exploded globally
after the November launch of ChatGPT, the fastest-growing app of all time, by
Microsoft-backed OpenAI. US and European regulators have demanded guardrails to
prevent misinformation, bias, violation of copyrights and invasion of privacy.
Actors and writers envision various scenarios in which
studios could try to cut costs and boost revenue using generative AI, which can
be fed existing material and pump out new content. The technology already is
used to erase age marks or alter mouth movements to sync with words when
programming is dubbed in various languages. Actor Leland Morrill said he has
worked on sets where he was surrounded by cameras taking pictures from all
angles.
"With that type of content, they could use you for part
of it, and then create the rest of the character, and then we're not on set
anymore and nobody gets paid," Morrill said at a multi-union rally in Los
Angeles. Producer, writer and former 'Family Ties' actor Justine Bateman, holds
a degree in computer science and has been sounding the alarm about AI. She said
companies could allow fans to make their own 'Star Wars' movie, and add
themselves for an extra fee. Or, a studio could take footage from a popular
1980s TV show such as 'Family Ties' and make a new season with AI.
YOUNGER YOU
Some actors have signed off on specific uses of AI. The
upcoming 'Indiana Jones' movie features scenes where 80-year-old star Harrison
Ford appears 40 years younger. He said Walt Disney Co's Lucasfilm used images
of his face that were shot during 'Indiana Jones' films in the 1980s.
"It's fantastic," Ford raved about his youthful on-screen appearance
in an interview with late-night host Stephen Colbert.
James Earl Jones, now 92, agreed to allow AI to replicate
the menacing voice he gave to Darth Vader, according to Vanity Fair, so the
character could live on. AI helped Disney put the late Carrie Fisher in 2019
film 'The Rise of Skywalker', with the blessing of her daughter.
SAG-AFTRA's Crabtree-Ireland said actors have varying
comfort levels with how AI is used, which is why the union will advocate for
informed consent in talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television
Producers (AMPTP), the group that represents Disney, Netflix and other studios.
A representative for the AMPTP had no comment on its
position on use of AI with actors. In negotiations with the Writers Guild of
America (WGA), the AMPTP proposed discussing the topic once a year, which the
Guild viewed as an attempt to avoid the issue. The WGA has been on strike over
AI and compensation since May 2.
If SAG-AFTRA cannot reach a deal on AI and other issues,
actors also could go on strike, which would pile more pressure on the studios.
Ahead of negotiations, SAG-AFTRA leaders have asked members to provide
authorization to call a strike if needed. Voting on a strike authorization ends
Monday. Both unions want safeguards in place before AI becomes widely used.
Bateman, a former SAG board member, derides AI as
"automatic imitation" that could lead to a future filled with
rehashed entertainment from the past. "I don't want to live in that
world," Bateman said. "What's the next genre in film? What's the next
genre in music? You're never going to see anything like that if we're all using
AI." © Reuters
0 comments:
Post a Comment