Filmmaker Justine Bateman posted a no-nonsense breakdown of the AI protections that she thinks are needed to end the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. It’s been no secret that AI technology being used to replace human performers has been a huge sticking point in SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations with AMPTP. And Bateman spelled those concerns out in a post on X (formally Twitter).
“Here are the #AI basic needs for a #SAG agreement, from my perspective. (I have not been in the room lately, so this is not reflective of any recent proposals or counterproposals.),” she wrote.
“1. Definition of someone playing a “human character” must be an actual human,” Bateman explained. This point did receive some major pushback from commenters on X. So she pointed out that;
“Both the DGA and the WGA got “definition of a director” and “definition of a writer” as humans in their #AI negotiations. SAG should also have “definition of an actor” as human as well, just to start,” in a later comment.
“2. No “human-like” #AI objects may take the place of a human actor playing that role.
3. No scans for anything but the current project, and that use must be informed with extreme detail, and only used if the actor would be in mortal danger in that portion of the performance.”
This is being pushed for to avoid AI making it look like performers are doing things they never consented to. A recent example of this is when actor Tom Hanks had to warn fans that an AI-generated version of him was being used in a video to sell dental plans. Hanks in no way endorsed these plans nor did he consent to his likeness to be used.
“4. Deceased actors are off-limits. If the studio wants to make some side deal with their estate, they are as free to do that as they ever have been.”
While using deceased performers’ voices/likenesses is far from a new phenomenon, it has been getting more pervasive with the rise of AI technology. Many seem to believe that the request for these protections is to avoid some far off future consequences. When in reality these issues exist right here in the present day. Recently Zelda Williams, daughter of the late Robin Williams, had to issue a statement asking for people to stop using AI to recreate her father’s voice.
“5. No background performer scanning. You want a crowd scene, hire actors. Otherwise rewrite the scene to an emptier one.” Adding “(Indie films have been managing this cost for decades. You can, too.)”
This was another point of serious contention among commenters. Who mostly complained that this would make large crowd scenes impossibly expensive to film. Bateman once again supported this point in a later comment saying;
“As far as the notion that background performers in large numbers is prohibitive or impossible, I’ll tell you of some pre-AI, pre-CGI films. If it was possible to bring in humans then, it’s possible now (only the first 57 need to be SAG, by the way).”
She provided the 850 extras needed for Orson Welles’ “The Trail,” the 1,400 extras in Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran,” and the 1,500 extras and hundreds of animals needed for William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” as examples.
“Mankiewicz’s CLEOPATRA(1963) many times had 6,000 background performers on set,” Bateman pointed out. “(Incidentally, the reason Los Angeles’ Century City has that name is because 20th Century Fox, CLEOPATRA’s studio, had to sell land it owned in order to pay for the film. That’s how much studios used to get behind their filmmakers.)”
“6. Decide if you are in the film/series business or not. If the AMPTP companies want to instead make “content” that no longer involves humans, then none of the unions should be negotiating with them anymore.
Bottomline, no union should tolerate talks that include negotiating their own replacement. It’s a ridiculous and childish position from the AMPTP. They should just do what I’ve outlined and be done with it. But, they aim to collapse the business instead. It’s vandalism,” Bateman concluded.
This does summarize a key point of SAG-AFTRA strike, to prevent human beings from being replaced with inferior copies without consent. AI technology is certainly a helpful tool and by no means inherently evil. Even Bateman acknowledges that replacing performers with AI counterparts in potentially dangerous scenes is a good thing.
However, this technology is no substitute for human beings as a whole. Reports of performers being subjected to full body scans for often vague reasons set an alarming precedence for where studios would like this technology to go. SAG-AFTRA and people like Bateman are simply trying to keep humanity in the creative arts.
You can read Bateman’s full statement below:
