Duncan Crabtree-Ireland Urges Lawmakers To Extend AI Bill Protections In Perpetuity, Calls Deepfakes An “Existential Threat”

deadline.com:

SAG-AFTRA‘s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland urged lawmakers to move forward with an AI bill which seeks to provide historic protection against generative artificial intelligence. “AI technology, left unregulated, poses an existential threat not only to SAG-AFTRA’s members, but to civil discourse, student health & welfare, democracy and national security,” he said during his testimony to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property about the NO FAKES Act (read it here).

In addition to requiring informed consent for digital replicas, the bipartisan NO FAKES Act — or the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act — offers historic federal IP protections against the misappropriation of voice and likeness performance in sound recordings and audiovisual works.

Artificial intelligence was a cornerstone of SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations with the Hollywood studios last year and one of the sticking points that prompted the actors union to go on strike for 148 days.

As a result, SAG-AFTRA (along with the WGA and the DGA) secured provisions to protect their members from the use of AI. SAG-AFTRA also negotiated AI protections in its contract with the recording industry, and it is seeking similar provisions in its Interactive Media Agreement with the video game companies, though those talks are ongoing.