The Front Page: How AI became a major contention in Hollywood negotiations

Members of SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, on the picket line outside Fox Studios in Los Angeles. Photo / Mark Abramson (The New York Times)

Technology has the habit of disrupting the entertainment industry and rocking the foundations that have long been in place.

The tech giants behind streaming have certainly played a major role in making the position of writers and actors far more uncertain than it previously was.

But there’s now an even bigger threat rising in the shape of generative artificial intelligence (AI) – and the impact it could have in the coming decades.

Speaking to The Front Page podcast from Los Angeles, New York Times senior entertainment writer Brooks Barnes explains that the negotiations dragged on because both the actors and the studio executives wanted to iron out the details on AI.

“Artificial intelligence was the last real sticky point the two sides needed to work through,” Barnes says.

“With the writers, there were about two or three pages in the contract ultimately dedicated to artificial intelligence, but with the actors, it ended up being 16 pages. It was a much more difficult and thorny area to work through.”

The level of detail included in the contract was dedicated to ensuring guardrails were in place to protect actors from the impact artificial intelligence was likely to have in the future.

“There are guarantees around what happens if a studio wants to create an entirely synthetic performer. This could be a character based on the attributes of known actors. [Directors] could ask for an actress with Julia Roberts’ laugh and Angelina Jolie’s eyes. I’m just making that up, but what protections should come into play in that case?”

These rules aren’t only about protecting famous actors from having their likeness replicated and used in different ways.

“In another example, what protections are owed to a background actor, who might have had their image scanned and then reused to populate a crowd scene? What protections do you give there?”

The other concern on top of this is that studios might be tempted to film one movie and then replicate the likeness of a certain character to be reused in follow-up films, each of which could make millions of dollars in ticket sales.

“This is especially true in these franchises that go on forever and ever. What happens if Carrie Fisher, for example, had agreed to have her image scanned and used for Star Wars films in perpetuity? [Under the new rules], her estate now needs to be compensated and the union also wanted approval for each new time that might be used.”

Drawing clear legal lines and establishing rules are important steps in terms of safeguarding the creatives who ultimately do the work that this multi-billion dollar industry has been built on.

This won’t be the last discussion of this nature that we see across the sector. As AI continues to evolve and its impact becomes clearer, we can expect more industries to similarly grapple with these changes and establish rules where there currently are none.

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page podcast to hear more details on what Hollywood actors were fighting for.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.