Posted on 07/15/2023 1:14:36 PM PDT by Drew68
During today’s press conference in which Hollywood actors confirmed that they were going on strike, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator, revealed a proposal from Hollywood studios that sounds ripped right out of a Black Mirror episode.
In a statement about the strike, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said that its proposal included “a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members.”
“If you think that’s a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again.”
When asked about the proposal during the press conference, Crabtree-Ireland said that “This ‘groundbreaking’ AI proposal that they gave us yesterday, they proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get one day’s pay, and their companies should own that scan, their image, their likeness and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity on any project they want, with no consent and no compensation. So if you think that’s a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again.”
In response, AMPTP spokesperson Scott Rowe sent out a statement denying the claims made during SAG-AFTRA’s press conference. “The claim made today by SAG-AFTRA leadership that the digital replicas of background actors may be used in perpetuity with no consent or compensation is false. In fact, the current AMPTP proposal only permits a company to use the digital replica of a background actor in the motion picture for which the background actor is employed. Any other use requires the background actor’s consent and bargaining for the use, subject to a minimum payment.”
The use of generative AI has been one of the major sticking points in negotiations between the two sides (it’s also a major issue behind the writers strike), and in her opening statement of the press conference, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said that “If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble, we are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines.”
The SAG-AFTRA strike will officially commence at midnight tonight.
Disclosure: The Verge’s editorial staff is also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.
Far, far worse.
You probably shouldn't let "The Nanny" be the one speaking on your behalf. It sort of detracts from the gravitas of the message you are trying to send.
I tend to agree. A lot of freepers will react with "a pox on both their houses." I think that's a mistake. The writers and actors are striking against the Borg. I don't want a world in which a handful of global conglomerates completely controls the flow of all information, including cultural products. The streamers overexpanded. They are now talking consolidation. We could end up with six or fewer giants, vertically and horizontally integrated, in complete control and in a position to block out newcomers. And at that point, they will continue to look for synergies -- and I suspect one of the synergies will be a consolidation of DEI functions, with radical perspectives being imposed from the top down as industry standards binding across all platforms and extended downwards to all "partners."
If AI takes over completely, movies and tv shows will simply be computer based animations of scripts. And ChatGPT will write the scripts. The only humans in the loop will be the commissars at the streamers, who will decide what meets their DEI and message curation standards. You know ... the streamer execs who get together from time to time for photo ops around the conference table in the White House when a democrat is in residence. Or around the conference table somewhere else when a democrat is not in the White House, and the purpose of the meeting will be to ensure that the democrats never lose another election. Complete control of the flow of information and cultural messaging is game, set and match.
I want humans in the loop and an information and media ecosystem that allows independent and dissident perspectives an opportunity to reach the market.
I came across this today. I think it's pretty good: 2023 Actors Strike: Everything You Need to Know
The entire podcast is 30 minutes. If that exceeds your tolerance, go to 22:40. At that point, the presenter -- who has been pretty even handed to that point -- candidly admits that "this is where my editorializing begins." And at about 27:30, he hits the Borg directly. It's worth a watch. I've never seen this guy before and can't vouch for his other stuff, but I think he nails the strike issues.
Yes, there's room for criticism all around, but it's important to remember that most of the writers and actors aren't rich. Most of them aren't A-list. And their art form is in considerable danger of being completely automated. Which might not be a problem except that this would mean that the Borg -- they won't name it Minitru, but that's what it will be -- will control all information flows.
cc'ing the movie ping list.
Thanks for the post and link.
That would kill the casting couch.
Well said, your whole post.
Bumping this to watch later.
#MeToo killed the casting couch.
Have you noticed how fugly modern young actresses have become these days?
This is absolutely frightening. AI duplicates are already being produced, and the likeness is uncanny. And like many have already said, you can make them do whatever you want them to do, which will include pornography. Simply evil, wicked.
“...people are going to want to see actors they recognize.”
You’re looking backwards. Do you think that they cannot conjure up a new virtual star? When people see that new, fake AI star in 20 or 30 films, what keeps that star from being as big as John Wayne, Tom Cruise, or Merrily Monroe?
In 50 or 100 years, nobody will recognize those old real-people stars except in “classic films.” In fact, there will probably come a time when people don’t even want to see real people acting.
So they could just create new actors that don’t resemble anybody. The genie is out of the bottle and there’s no putting it back in.
I’m agnostic on some of the strike issues, but I am entirely with the writers and actors on the demand for greater transparency on viewership. The streamers hold those numbers close. One of the problems, however, is that the streamers are ultimately in the business of selling subscriptions, not movies. While they pay lip service to quality, that is like the teachers unions paying lip service to excellence in education. While it’s nice if Dick and Jane learn to read and Tameka and Juwan learn the multiplication tables — no one is actually opposed to that — excellence is way down in about tenth place on the priority list, and it loses the shoving match in every tight corner.
“The BORG”...Good Point!
I trust about 0.0000092% of what either side says here.
Yesterday both were saying the other side refused to return to the
Negotiating table.
The writers and actors said the studios want to control their likenesses or
creations, and the studios said protections to prevent this were
Included in their offer.
Strangely enough, life would go on if they ever settled. It might be a lot
better too.
> Or a foursome of the Bidens and Obamas
Ah. A horror movie, then.
See Rei from William Gibson’s Idoru, 1996.
I can’t stand the bloviated idiocies that come from the present line of other-peoples-words-speakers, so why not virtual stars?
In fact who needs Hollywierd? Compose your own plot and let Generative AI do all the translation to “film.”
These guys are relics squabbling over the last crumbs of their dead industry.
Across multiple posts on several platforms, this woman has racked up hundreds millions of views and is one of the biggest stars on social media. (Click pic for SFW video as she also provides plenty of NSFW content)
Mike Judge said Idiocracy was 500 years away. It happened in less than 20.
Movies will become just like music, so formulaic that it will be a disaster. If anybody has seen “Final Fantasy, the Spirits Within” back in 2001, you know how these movies are going to be. At least with real actors and practical effects, there is a measure of unpredictability in the outcome because it doesn’t get done 100% as intended.
AI is only as good as the human running it.
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