Hollywood's Standoff: AI Cloning Sparks Tinseltown Turmoil

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1:23You know, they want more money and that kind of stuff. But one of the big concerns is AI specifically, and they're worried how AI is going to be affecting their industry. So today on the podcast, we're going to be jumping into what exactly is happening, what their demands are, and where we see this going in the future. All of this recently kind of came to a head with a big press conference they just held, where essentially a bunch of Hollywood actors confirmed their decision to go on strike. And in this whole press conference, of course, it was highly anticipated there was a lot of tension um but this is from the alliance of motion pictures and television producers um and that seems uh this whole thing seems to feel like it's kind of straight out of a you know black mirror episode or something but essentially duncan cab tree ireland um he's their chief negotiator he didn't waste any time in dismantling the so-called groundbreaking ai proposal during his whole announcement um which is a proposal that was recently made And the statement which accompanied the proposal claimed to offer actors a revolutionary solution to protect their digital likenesses.

2:29But Cabtree Ireland responded with, I would say, a pretty scathing critique. He said, if you think that's a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again. So according to his kind of side of the story during the whole press conference, the proposal that he got suggested that background performers could be scanned and then compensated for a single day's work and then subsequently would have their image and likeness owned by the production company indefinitely. and the company could use these digital replicas on any project with or without consent or compensation from the original performer so this is what Crabtree Ireland did not like with this like about this whole situation and the whole proposal and so I think this resonated a lot with his with his audience I mean so there's like that side of it but I think overall their whole demands that they're currently making are really focusing on not letting AI replace them, which I think it's tricky because they're all striking right now.

3:27You know, we have the Writers Guild that has been striking for a number of months, and all of them are kind of hinging on this thing where they say, like, we want guarantees that no AI will ever replace our job, which is kind of tricky. And when they're striking, it's honestly like the worst time, because I feel like that's the time that it's most likely that they will be replaced, right? If there's no actors or if There's no writers. I feel like that's the time that companies are like, okay, well, I guess we have to just pedal to the metal, figure out how this whole AI thing works and replace them immediately because, you know, I think that it'll be interesting to see if this happens.

4:01Of course, historically, this has always been a risk with strikes. You know, back in a long, long time ago when groups would strike, they would often just bring in cheap laborers from Ireland or from some other country to kind of fill in the gap of the striking workers. and then the striking workers would be permanently out and there'd be like this whole ordeal. So what I almost wonder is if, you know, this whole thing happening right now with striking, because they're worried about AI is going to inevitably lead to AI's adoption faster in their industry. So it's kind of interesting. I think that in response to the SAG AF TRA's allegations.

4:42AMPTP spokesperson Scott Rowley issued a statement pretty quick after that. He denied claims made during the press conference. He said the claims made today by the AFTRA leadership that the digital replicas of background actors may be used in perpetuity with no consent or compensation is false. He also emphasized that the current AMPTP proposal only granted permission for the use of a background actor's digital replica within the specific movie that they were employed for so any other usage would require the background editor's consent accompanied by negotiations and a minimum payment so this is kind of interesting right they're arguing about this right now they're saying like there's this new thing where they want to scan every actor and be able to replicate them with ai and they'll just use it forever and it's you know the actors aren't getting paid for it and then you know the people putting forth this contract are saying no uh you know we just want to be able to scan them and use their ai likeness inside of the film essentially and anything else would be extra i think the heated negotiations between the two parties have really been plagued by uh the contentious issue of generative ai which has been a significant factor behind the ongoing writer's strike um sag af tra's president fran Descher opened the press conference with a pretty poignant statement, a warning pretty much.

6:10She said, if we don't stand tall right now, we're all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines. End quote. So I think the fear of being replaced by automated counterparts is something a lot of actors and actresses are worried about. It's something that's really just kind of looming over the industry at the moment. And I think that this is kind of intensifying the resolve of a lot of the striking actors, to be honest. So I think as the clock kind of, you could say, ticks closer to midnight, the strike is set to officially start. The outcome of this, I think, is undoubtedly going to shape the future of Hollywood.

6:46And I think really the delicate balance between human talent and emerging technologies. I think what's really interesting with this whole ordeal right now is that more than 170 ,000 Hollywood actors and writers have gone on strike due to you know the demands that ai is not going to replace their job they're also asking for increased pay and work guarantees and that kind of thing but i think ai is a really big part of this this strike actually impacts a lot of major studios including disney netflix amazon and sony and what's interesting is i mean some of the just the headline uh movies that are being affected by this are beetlejuice 2 deadpool 3 gladiator 2 mortal kombat 2 venom 3 and a lot of others and what's interesting is there's actually been support from some fairly large actors and actresses you have george clooney matt damon robert downey jr emily blunt margaret robbie florence pooh jason sudecusi and also susan saradon who are all supporting the strike essentially um but this isn't without you know some some repercussions a lot of different industry experts are warning that a long-term strike is going to significantly impact um the entire industry, like movies won't be able to come out.

7:55And there's going to be a lot of there's going to be a lot of different issues that arise from that. So I think this is a really interesting area to continue to follow. But I'd love to hear if you have an opinion on this. Should these actors be striking? Is this a serious issue? If you want to, you know, give us feedback on this, make sure to join our Facebook group or our Discord channel. And you can let us know your thoughts. Those are both linked in the description of the podcast. But anyways, this is an area we'll definitely be following and I'll give you updates as we get them on this ongoing strike and how we think AI is going to impact Hollywood, entertainment, and the movie industry overall.