Strike over? US actors may return to work with top-tier 'progressive AI protections'

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing actors and media professionals, is set to end its near-four-month strike after reaching a tentative deal with TV and film studios over pay and the use of AI. The agreement forged with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) was approved by the majority of SAG-AFTRA's …

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

I wonder if they're too late ?

There is a niche for having Carrie Fischer or Peter Cushing cameo in a Star Wars movie, but going forward why would I bother having an actual "star"?

I hire a model as the basis of the 'face', or given how much AI filtering is already added to model head shots, I don't bother with a human at all.

I have their movement captured by a dancer / acrobat / etc - I don't need Andy Serkis for most roles - I can re-render them for different culture markets..

Background 'artistes' I can already render on my desktop.

So the next Milli-Vanilli, I can just get the video stars from Adobe, without having to hire a couple of idiots.

lose having a "star" to do the red carpet - but I have a star that can be interviewed simultaneously in a dozen markets, and doesn't need to fly 1st class.

And I don't have to delete an entire children's TV series when the star gets caught doing children's TV presenter stuff.

[Spazturtle]

This strike right after covid has destroyed the savings of people in the industry, and the deal only last a few years. When it next comes up the union will have to accept whatever deal the studios offer as nobody will be able to afford to strike. And in 3 years time the tech for AI will be even better.

[flayman]

How do you prove I used AI?

It may not be there quite yet, but AI voice generation based on samples does a good job of making dialogue sound like an actor's voice. This is being used right now in a lot of free community game mods that add new content to existing games. Is that covered? How do you prove someone used AI? Maybe I hired a cheap but talented voice artist who is able to sound like John DiMaggio. Let's call him Freddy Foo. He doesn't have an IMDB page or website. He gets all his work through word of mouth. Yeah, that's it. That's what I'll put in the credits. Done.