SAG-AFTRA members have begun a three-week voting process on the tentative deal between members and the studios, but not all members are happy about the Artificial Intelligence (AI) deal that was struck (see my prior post, which outlines the AI terms of the deal).  

Objections include:

• Allowing for “digital doubles,” which arguably means taking work away from other actors.
  • A “digital double” is a digitally created version of a known performer, either with or without the actors' help.
• Allowing for “synthetic performers” created by generative AI to be used, which would arguably take work away from actors and on-set crew.
  • A ‘Synthetic Performer’ is a digitally created performer who isn't recognizable as a known person and for which there is no “employment” arrangement, basically creating a new actor via CGI or AI.
• Allowing SAG-AFTRA to negotiate “consideration” for the use of a Synthetic Performer arguably is a conflict of interest with its membership, as it would be getting paid to permit AI actors to be used instead of its membership.
• Not enough protection to prevent a producer from using merely the name and history of an actor in a prompt (without using their likeness) to generate an “actor” who looks much like a recognizable person.