Hollywood’s Fight Against AI

The writer’s strike by the WGA has been settled. The agreed-upon terms promise significant and long-overdue gains for writers. The terms also represent an important win by the creative side of the movie industry in what is becoming a slowly encroaching danger in the industry: the unregulated use of AI. 

The WGA’s agreement with the AMPTP states that generative artificial intelligence can’t be used to write scripts. While writers can use it as a tool, they can’t be compelled to use it, and the studio must state whether the material they give to a writer to adapt has been created by AI. 

While this is welcome news by everyone on the creative side of filmmaking, it only partially resolves the issue. The SAG-AFTRA strike is yet to be settled. This strike by the actors of Hollywood also includes an issue over the use of actor’s likenesses and “deepfakes”. The stakes have the potential to be much higher and more damaging for actors if they’re not in control of their own images. 

Timely Omen

As if to underline the seriousness of this issue of stolen likenesses and deep fakes, Tom Hanks made a startling announcement earlier this week. 

The announcement was posted on Instagram and said a video circulating online promotes a dental plan using a deepfake version of Tom Hank’s likeness to sell memberships, but Hanks had nothing to do with it. 

The easy creation of these deepfakes poses a serious threat to the livelihood of all actors, and for that matter, any famous name athlete or notable professional in their field. Unless some ironclad rules are established governing the rights to a person’s image, voice, and likeness, no one will be able to trust what they see on the screen in the future. 

Let’s hope that the SAG-AFTRA strike will mirror the WGA strike in reining in the use of unregulated AI images and stories in the movies and TV.