Yahoo News SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland Emphasizes Need For “Informed Consent” To Protect Actors From AI Abuse – Comic-Con
SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland was at Comic-Con on Friday, joining voice-over actors to talk about the threat of AI in their profession for the National Association of Voiceover Actors panel “AI in Entertainment: The Performer’s Perspective Panel.”
“AI is implemented voluntarily by these big corporations, and people need to hold them accountable,” said Crabtree-Ireland. “We don’t accept the premise that we do what they say.”
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“AI can be implemented in a human-centric way instead of breaking them down,” he added.
While voice-over actors can engage in video game work during the current strike, they can’t do voice-overs for features films, TV shows and trailers of struck companies.
If anyone wants to know how AI voice-over actors are affected, it was in the testimony of Cissy Jones’ (Transformers Earthrise) today. She expressed grave concern about “public fan mods,” whereby fans use a celebrity’s voice to record whatever lines they want, using their vocal likeness and posting that online. Jones said that fan mods, while they “can be cheeky, in other instances, it can be hurtful.”
“If I don’t have ability to control what my voice says, and what is fake or not, it can do harm to me personally, financially, and (there are things) I don’t want my children to hear,” Jones said. “I understand the fun of it, but I would ask with my entire soul that they (fans) put themselves in our shoes.”
NAVA president and founder Tim Friedlander (Record of Ragnarok) went a step further to explain that it’s not just fan mods that are abusing voice-over actors, but also instances where voice-over actors are finding their voices from one game being used without their consent in another. Similar situations are going on with promos. On a whole other level with AI, there are also deep-fakes where actors’ likenesses are used in nefarious ways.
“Anyone who has watched “Joan Is Awful,” the first episode of Black Mirror this season — anyone can imagine a world not too far off from today where the abuse effects us today,” said Crabtree-Ireland.
“Everyone is concerned with their personal life — maybe their face is used without any real informed consent,” he explained.
And that’s the vital point in getting fair treatment and protection against AI for voice-over actors, he said. It’s informed consent.
“That means performers need to understand what’s going to be done with the digital replica of their voice,” said Crabtree-Ireland.
The abuses of AI “are happening in voice acting more than any other field.”
“No one should think that there’s less resolve in the voice-over actor or gaming community” said Crabtree-Ireland.
Crabtree-Ireland emphasized that while corporations have said they’re doing everything to protect AI, they’re not. He encouraged those consumers in the Hilton Bayfront Aqua Ballroom to speak out to these companies. Crabtree-Ireland says they’ll listen if consumers speak out. “They care about shareholder value the bottom line, and consumers turning away,” he said.
While SAG-AFTRA will bargain for AI protections of its members, what about piracy? Piracy is also a culprit in the duplication of voices online.
How SAG-AFTRA will police that per Crabtree-Ireland “is through a combination of collective bargaining, public policy and education of fans so that everyone is on the same page.” Essentially, “a set of boundaries around implementation of AI.”
“There needs to be a public policy set around deep-fakes,” he emphasized.
And “politicians will care” about deep-fakes, and the need to take action against them, said Jones.
“The ease of which they can be deep-faked in an important election,” she pointed out.
Also joining today’s panel were moderator Linsay Rousseau (Transformers: War for Cybertron, God of War Ragnarok) and Ashly Burch (Mythic Quest, Horizon Zero Dawn).
Said SAG-AFTRA negotiating member Zeke Alton, “We’re bargaining for our very existence.”
“This isn’t a contract battle between a union and a company,” said Crabtree-Ireland. “It’s existential.”
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