Justin Bateman
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SAG-AFTRA formally reached tentative agreements on new deals with studios and streamers earlier this week, but Justin Bateman isn’t too happy about the artificial intelligence provisions.
said the actress, author and filmmaker. MSNBC‘s Ali Velshi said Friday that actors “should only approve contracts if they no longer want to work.” If we want to replace it with a synthetic object made by generative AI, why not?”
After the new contract was approved by 86% of union officials on Friday, SAG-AFTRA members are scheduled to begin voting to ratify the agreement on Tuesday.
Velshi went on to mention a recent article. hollywood reporter DreamWorks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg predicts that AI will significantly reduce the number of workers needed to produce animated films.
In response, Bateman, who served as generative AI’s union advisor, said he felt studio executives were “choosing to get out of the movie and series business.”
“I think they want to think of themselves as technology kings or something. But doing projects that don’t involve humans is no longer in the movie industry,” she added. “People who don’t want human involvement have never really been on set. They don’t know what it’s like to make a movie.”
Bateman says of himself as a filmmaker: “She never uses generative AI. I like what people are doing as members of the crew, writers, editors, cinematographers, make-up artists, actors.”
Velshi also asked filmmakers what entertainment and media consumers can do to protect creators in the industry who want to avoid using AI. Bateman said it “depends on what you want.”
“So, very soon, you’ll be offered customized movies based on your specific viewing history,” she explained. “And they don’t bother copyrighting it because it’s going to be like Kleenex. They’ll make millions of them an hour, but that doesn’t matter to them. …Scanning themselves And you can put yourself in these works. And there’s going to be some novelty that will eventually wear off, because I think people will still crave something real and human.”
She continued: “The tracks are splitting. One track is saying, ‘Okay, we’re going to engage in this kind of negotiation with cannibals, and how are you going to cut off my leg and burn me? “We’re going to talk about whether we’re going to boil it or simmer it and what sauce we’re going to put it on?” “That truck has a generative AI in it.”
But Bateman said he’s on a completely different track: “I’m going to make something human for a human audience, with a human crew, a human cast, etc.” And let’s see what happens. ”
After her discussion, MSNBC, Bateman challenged X (Formerly Twitter) Early Saturday morning, she said she would read the actual contract, not the summary, to explain “the violations.” [AI] The privileges that AMPTP has over you. I am very disappointed that the SAG leadership and committee were not receptive to my guidance. [AI] problem. “
She added in her thread: [AI] The structure of this business will collapse. I want the actors and staff to have enough self-respect to flip the table and flip the CEO when things happen. They will leave you with nothing to lose. ”
Later that day, Bateman I shared another thread with X Have actors “recognize some of the language in the play” [AI] It is part of the interim SAG agreement. ” After enumerating a number of points, she says what she calls “the most serious of these” is that “the agreement includes human-like ‘synthetic performers’, or ‘AI objects’.” mentioned. This gives studios and streamers permission to use AI objects that look like humans instead of hiring human actors. ”
“It’s one thing to use GAI to create King Kong or a flying serpent (although it replaces many VFX/CGI artists), but it’s another to have an AI object play a human character instead of a real actor. “I mean,” she added. “To me, the inclusion of this clause is an absolute anathema to union contracts.”
The agreement has not yet been shared publicly, but Ireland’s Executive Director Duncan Crabtree said at a press conference on Friday that the agreement would be granted if an actor’s face or body part is used in a film production. and elaborated on several aspects of the agreement, including AI protection covering indemnification. A “synthetic” performer using generative AI.