California lawmakers have put forth a bill aimed at safeguarding actors, artists, and entertainers from the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by making it mandatory for employment contracts to include informed consent when it involves digital duplication.
Assemblyman Ash Kalra, the bill's sponsor, argues that generative AI poses a "genuine threat" to workers in the entertainment sector and should only be used with the consent of the individuals involved.
The bill, known as Assembly Bill 459, will undergo further scrutiny, discussion, and revisions by a committee before reaching the House floor for a vote.
Kalra emphasized the need for the "common-sense requirements" outlined in AB 459 to protect workers, stating that "mandatory informed consent and representation will help ensure that workers are not unknowingly at risk of losing their digital selves, and consequently, their careers and livelihoods."
The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), a prominent US union representing over 100,000 media professionals worldwide, have expressed their support for the bill.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the association's national executive director and chief negotiator, stressed the urgency of enacting consent-based laws to safeguard actors' digital images. He argued that actors maintaining full control over their digital likenesses through informed consent is crucial for building and sustaining their careers. Crabtree-Ireland voiced concerns about AI-generated content potentially leading to "abusive" and "exploitative" practices, emphasizing that legislation is essential to curbing such behavior.
The Screen Actors Guild has recently been involved in nearly four months of ongoing strike action, focusing on issues such as basic pay, improved working conditions, and AI protections. Actor Sean Penn, in an interview with Variety, criticized studios' desires to use actors ' likenesses and voices for future AI applications, highlighting the need for tighter safeguards and higher royalties for actors' work.
Penn drew attention to the potential misuse of AI by suggesting a scenario where someone might want to create a virtual replica of another person using their scans and voice data, raising ethical concerns about the technology's capabilities and implications.
