“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.”
I mean, videogames already have contracts specifically designed for that. Contracts like these always have limitations to time, amount of products released, restrictions on surrounding themes, etc, and, of close, closure terms. They have shit ton of detail in them, and are studied by studios very carefuly. These actors have their own agents and lawyers that really know how to do their job. Ain’t nobody letting them use their face for “eternity”.
They’re doing it to extras that are desperate… People that will do pretty much anything to get on screen, let alone say a line.
But like 99% of today’s stars did that work before becoming stars.
If someone signs this “deal” and then gets famous a decade later, they stop getting paid and studios just use their digital likeness.
Hence the strike.
That was true in the beginning, yes. But now that this topic is not any more a special thing for some game or movie but developing into the modus operandi, media companies start to crack down on those rules and try to alter the deals with as much force as possible to gain an advantage. The strike of the SAG right now is only the beginning of reactions to these new developments of maximizing profits by taking advantage of uneven bargaining power.