Actor strike: studios want to use AI to replace extras

In the past few hours, the actors’ strike has officially begun Hollywood, which joins the screenwriters for a result that is now expected: the entire assembly line of US cinema comes to a complete halt. And for the various reasons why actors stop and start demonstrating and protesting, there is also the argument AI. This is a topic that has been raging in the art world for a long time and this time it seems the studios have come up with something really surprising.

The news came from the speech of Duncan Crabtree-Irelandnegotiator and spokesperson for the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA. The straw that breaks the camel’s back is “The studios’ proposal to pay extras on our films for one day. On that day, the extras would be scanned and then sent home. The production companies would have controlled that scanning, their image, their likeness to use them for the rest of eternity in any project, without permission or without compensation”.

STUDIOS/AMPTP WANTS TO SCAN BACKGROUND ACTORS AND USE THEIR LIKENESS FOR AI WITHOUT PERMISSION OR PAYING what the fuck #SAGAFTRA pic.twitter.com/V3pNpWvyjJ

— v (@reionfilm) July 13, 2023

A proposition that really seems absurd, if you consider how many extras are used in films: the intention of the studios, therefore, is to reduce costs drastically for extra actors, to rely on artificial intelligence.

At the beginning of the strike he also spoke Fran Drescherartist of The Nanny and union president SAG-AFTRA: “For me, it’s absurd to know how long it is between us and the majors. They talk about poverty and how much money they’re losing left and right, but in the process they allow their CEOs to pocket hundreds of millions of dollars.”.

The subject of AI was also touched by Drescher, who explained how the strike of the actors could be an important moment for all unions in every sector that can be influenced by artificial intelligence and advances in the field of automation.

Source: Mashable