SAG-AFTRA Head: AI Is a ‘Game Changer’ With Both Threats and Opportunities

Members of the Screen Actor Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) voted Monday to authorize a strike in preparation for negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. And as with the Writer's Guild of America, artificial intelligence is a significant factor in SAG-AFTRA discussions.

"I think generative AI is the game changer that presents a particular threat—and maybe some opportunities—for our members," SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told Decrypt in an interview—before both sides agreed to a media blackout.

Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence trained on vast amounts of data and can produce content based on these prompts. The technology still struggles with what the industry calls "hallucinations," referring to instances in which an AI generates unexpected or untrue results not backed by real-world data.

The launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in November and the upgraded GPT-4 in March have brought the technology into the mainstream.

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Hollywood Writers on Strike Will Not Rest Until AI Is Stopped

The rise of generative AI, the buzziest thing in the tech world today, is also on the minds of TV and film writers as they try to reach a fair and equitable agreement to end the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. The dispute between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has entered its second month, and June gloom is setting in over Hollywood. Striking writers remain determined to have their voices heard and demands met, and one of the key sticki...

Crabtree-Ireland says that when AI was limited to specific tools that couldn't engage in the act of creation, it was less of a concern.

"Because of the flexibility, rapid growth, and the capabilities of generative AI, it's an area that we're very, very focused on," Crabtree-Ireland said, adding that SAG-AFTRA wants to ensure there are a clear set of guardrails around using people's images and likenesses.

Initially founded in 1933, the Screen Actors Guild merged with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in March 2012, and today represents over 160,000 members who work in front of a camera and as voice actors behind a microphone.

Before Crabtree-Ireland became SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director in June 2021, he served as general counsel (since 2006) and chief operating officer (since 2014).

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'Black Mirror' Creator Says ChatGPT Episode Script Was 'Shit'

While OpenAI's generative AI chatbot has taken the internet by storm, “Black Mirror” creator Charlie Brooker is not impressed with ChatGPT. “I’ve toyed around with ChatGPT a bit," Brooker told Empire Magazine, saying that he told the chatbot to generate an episode of his dystopian sci-fi series. Instead of generating a new episode, Brooker said ChatGPT summarized old episodes of “Black Mirror” into an amalgamation as if it were the script for a new episode. "It comes up with something that, at f...

Crabtree-Ireland says that while members have voted to authorize a strike, the union would not initiate a strike before the expiration of its contract on June 30.

"The core principles that we're looking for is informed consent and fair compensation if you're going to use any kind of AI or digital technology to recreate someone's image or likeness," Crabtree-Ireland said.

Crabtree-Ireland cited the use of James Earl Jones' voice and Carrie Fisher's likeness in the new Disney Star Wars series, adding that in those cases, consent was granted by the performer, their heirs, or representatives with compensation negotiated for those uses.

"That's something we're focused on seeing," Crabtree-Ireland said. "That also includes any use of our members' work in AI training data sets.”

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At the heart of the latest writers' strike is a small clause revolving around the use of artificial intelligence. Specifically, preventing the machines from writing any “literary material.” And as of Monday, studios have rejected the proposal, per the Writers Guild of America West (WGA). The WGA is one of the largest unions in the world of entertainment, acting on behalf of writers across the United States. The 2007 writers strike ruined Heroes, Prison Break, and Desperate Housewives. We lost a...

In artificial intelligence and machine learning, a dataset is a collection of related information that an AI system uses to learn and improve its ability to make predictions or decisions.

In April, British rock band Breezer released an album, “AIsis: The Lost Tapes,” replicating the vocal style of Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher using AI. The music video was viewed over 500,000 times on YouTube.

That same month, a AI-generated mash-up of Drake and The Weeknd called "Heart On My Sleeve," was uploaded to Spotify and YouTube. As a result, those platforms landed in the crosshairs of a potential lawsuit after Universal Music Group (UMG) demanded that they—as well as Apple Music, Amazon Music, and SoundCloud—remove the song, arguing that serving up the song constitutes copyright infringement.

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AI Oasis Tribute Album Sparks Debate Over Copyright and the Future of Music

Oasis is back! Except, not really. Thanks to artificial intelligence, however, the iconic '90s band is certainly back in the news. A new album released by British rock band Breezer, “AIsis: The Lost Tapes,” replicates the Oasis vibe so well that it has been viewed over 40,000 times on YouTube since it was uploaded on Friday. It sounds like Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher is killing it on the vocal track, but he wasn’t involved in the project at all. All of the music and lyrics were written and...

"We feel it needs to be very clear that can only be done with their consent and appropriate compensation, because those pieces of them are being used to create something else," Crabtree-Ireland said. "That's not something that should be done without fair treatment.”

Crabtree-Ireland says the aim is not to ban AI or keep it out of the industry entirely but to have a human-centered approach to implementing AI in the industry.

"The way [AI] is used needs to be done so that AI serves humans, not the other way around," he said.