Jeffrey Bennett: Celebs Rumors

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Would you buy a car from an AI chatbot? What if it looked and talked like Tom Hanks? These are the sorts of questions kicking around Sacramento, where lawmakers are considering a slew of proposals to regulate artificial intelligence. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing Hollywood actors, is pushing for legislation that would require detailed consent for the use of “digital replicas.” In a separate bill, the union also wants to prevent studios from putting dead performers in movies without the consent of their heirs.

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees announced on Wednesday its “core principles” to addressing the rise of artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry, outlining its multifaceted approach to addressing technology that the below-the-line workers union says “threatens tofundamentally alter employers’ business models and disrupt IATSE members’ livelihoods.”“The stakes involved are high, therefore IATSE’s approach as a union must be comprehensive,focusing on Research, Collaboration, Education, Political and Legislative Advocacy, Organizing,and Collective Bargaining,” the union wrote.The announcement comes after IATSE political and legislative director Tyler McIntosh met this past weekend with Biden Administration officials and other union leaders for a discussion on the potential impacts of artificial intelligence on labor. Among those present were SAG-AFTRA general counsel Jeffrey Bennett, Writers Guild of America East executive director Lowell Peterson, and representatives from non-entertainment labor orgs such as AFSCME, AFL-CIO, and United Auto Workers.

Rebecca Damon has been named executive director of SAG-AFTRA’s New York local – a paying staff job that will require her to give up her membership in the union. Damon, an actor and voice-over performer, had previously served as the union’s executive vice president and president of the New York local – both of which are non-paying positions.