Fran Drescher warns of of humans 'replaced by machines' in SAG strike announcement | Mashable.
Bizarre AI proposal from studios helps explain SAG strike
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| SAG-AFTRA is going on strike and Hollywood's changing business model with streaming and AI are big reasons why. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images |
Hollywood is officially on strike, and AI is one big reason. In fact, one AI proposal brought up by the studios in negotiations sounds downright bizarre.
SAG-AFTRA, the union representing actors, made the historic move after negotiations with the big movie studios fell through. It is the first actor strike in decades, with commercial actors last striking in 2000 and film and theatrical actors last going on strike in 1986.
"I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things," said SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, who delivered a fiery speech — to the delight of many social media users who seemingly had no clue TV's The Nanny was a union leader — after the strike was announced. "How they plead poverty that they are losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs."
Pay and benefits are core reasons why actors are going on strike, but there are two other key concerns that have played a crucial role in negotiations: streaming and AI.
And one stark example of what the big film studios are looking to do, which led to this strike, came from SAG chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland during the conference.
"The groundbreaking AI proposal that they gave us yesterday...they proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day's pay, and their company should own that scan, their image, their likeness, and to be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want, with no consent and no compensation," said Crabtree-Ireland...
As Drescher pointed out, the actor strike can potentially be a crucial moment for all labor unions across any industry that can possibly be affected by AI and technological advances in automation.
"If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble, we are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines," warned Drescher, while touting solidarity with other labor unions.
SAG-AFTRA actors join movie and TV writers with the WGA who have been on strike since May 2. It marks the first time both unions held simultaneous strikes since 1960.
More in Activism, Artificial Intelligence, Streaming
By striking they're just helping AI get more of a foothold in the industry.
ReplyDeleteno, they are standing up for a fair and decent living. Good for them.
DeleteWould you want your likeness replicated & monetized for perpetuity without proper compensation? That’s what they’re fighting for not just your basic notion of AI.
Deletethey don't have to use people's likeness.
Deletewhich will cause the industry to use AI since AI won't want these things.
DeleteBut that’s what they want to do! They want to capture actor’s image, likeness & voices to use & manipulate whenever without compensation! 🤷🏽♀️
Deletenah, they will find that they don't need their likeness.
DeleteHumans are with emotions and why they can and should stand up. To be human is to feel pain! This is pain !!
DeleteGo Fran! Well said
ReplyDeleteWe should strike and not watch 😑
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you
Delete#TeamNannyFran
ReplyDeleteI heard they hire an actor to come in and take photos of them and then send them home and use the photos to make digitized AI images where they don’t need the actors again because the computer does their work. Next they won’t even need a model. They are totally destroying human culture this way by leaving human creativity out of the equation. Artists will be obsolete because computers have all of our content to draw from and rearrange. This is not good. I agree with them. How do we stop this beast?
ReplyDeletePoor millionaires.
ReplyDeleteBoycott the movies !!!
ReplyDeleteThe world is run by vulture capitalists and bean counters
ReplyDeleteShame on these greedy studios!
ReplyDeletejust pay them more ffs
ReplyDeleteWar against AI has begun.
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing. For A.I. to work, it needs something to jumpstart it. It has to be given direction. They are proposing (the studio) to scan background players and eventually main actors to use for eternity to their hearts content without ever compensating them. This is still very much a human issue. As of now, A.I. still functions at the behest of man. This cannot happen. If you want to use someone's likeness, etc. They too should be equally be compensated and I think it's an awesome way to make a ton of money while just enjoying life and focusing on other things. The CEOs do not deserve to make millions off the images of others without sharing profits. No one does. They'll also still need a body to use CGI. A.I. is nothing but another tool. Much like a gun still needs someone to hold it, point and press. So does A.I. need direction.
Delete“still” functions at the behest of man, and “still” needs a body to use CGI. But for how long?
DeleteThey are absolutely right to try to get ahead of this before it's too late. Look what happened to the music industry in the past when it let tech just basically destroy the average recording artists livelihood. AI is going to pile on that artform as well yet again with seemingly no one standing up and coming to its defence like these unions are.
Now I know I sound anti-AI. I'm actually not. I see a lot of huge potential in it enhancing and making things faster/easier and making artists even stronger as a tool. I think an artist’s mind and point of view as a human is what makes art meaningful and relateable for people and that will never change. BUT all tech is growing so rapidly now that I think industry and society needs to implement some sort of holding period with new tech that's being unleashed. A time period where we put the breaks on and assess exactly how it's going to be implemented and if it's going to essentially instantly change the entire model and landscape of industries for the better, or worse and for who. If it's going to wipe entire genres of hundreds of thousands of people’s jobs and them being affected and potentially made obsolete, while making the gatekeepers just richer.
It's simply unacceptable to be told “get used to AI, because you can't stop it”. and then just let it destroy industries. We can't stop it, but we can pause and implement it ethically. It doesn't need to be like the wild west every time there's a technological breakthrough.
Here’s a dark thought. Many people aren’t wealthy and why not take full advantage of this! AI is for AI and never for an average, hard working person. This is mean to like the pockets of those retirement accounts and so on!
DeleteNo Make Up Fran ! 😫
ReplyDeleteright now they make so much money and work less than most people anyway, AI will reduce the cost of making movies, help do movies with old actors who are no longer with us and other shows that have been lost. Streaming well is not different from the syndication of a show, and they should get the same amount as if they are doing that.
ReplyDeletethere are actors who make a lot of money but a lot of working actors don't make tons of money. The people who would be the background actors (whose likenesses the studios wanted to scan and then use forever). And if you are talking about dead actors -- say the studios came up with a deal to do this--they'd want to pay once for the likeness and then use it as much as they could...if they could get permission to use it...and then that's what they would do instead of hiring actors because that would be cheaper and the bottom line is money is what matters.
DeletePlus CEOs of the companies make way more than most actors.
Warner Bros/Discovery CEO makes $39 million -- but somehow the studio can't afford to pay working actors and writers? Bob Iger just renewed his contract at Disney for 2 years...he'll still make $27 million a year, but his bonus structure has jumped from a max of $1 million to a max of $5 million per year. Which means he could be making $31 million per year. Netflix CEOs did have their compensation change by the board--last year they made $50 million EACH but then it was changed to a base pay and bonsues and stock options, which if all goes well for them means they could be making the same amount. Speaking of Netflix their First Quarter earnings for 2023 were over 1 BILLION dollars....just in the first 3 months of the year!
well, then it is a cost thing really, self-check has replaced checkers and many things have been automated to make things faster and easier. So this is a way to replace many actors who are overpaid or act like they are so self-important. I don't think lower-paid actors or those who are more easy to work with will be affected too much. As to extras well really could care less if it lowers production costs then i am fine with it. Maybe apply yourself and be a real actor not an extra. As i see it this will make things cheaper and easier to make and not have cost over runs or the time to search for extras and pay extras for just standing around.
DeleteAlso that a company a business and like it or not they are out to make money.
DeleteWho cares?
ReplyDeleteThey need to demand an end to the forced injections in order to work.
ReplyDeletePeople will continue to lose their job replacing by A.I. as the system widens the use
ReplyDeleteBlack Mirror 😂
ReplyDeleteI think the reality is AI has already replaced them ultimately… is it this year or in a few that is only a granular detail. No need to worry much about it a robot or AI is already learning your job also. Heck this post might be from an AI how would you know?
ReplyDeletepeople will just go back to basics and revolt against this hellish technology or we will go extinct or more like it be made extinct by AI. We will become more and more obsolete. Will they feed us when we are all out of work? There’s a twilight zone episode here.
DeleteThat sounds like something a robot would say! 😂🤣
Deleteit is a real concern, will they feed us?
DeleteIt absolutely will replace them eventually. But what they're trying to do right now is like lock people into crappy contracts. They've proposed paying a 'day rate' to some actors for their likeness and then having the rights to use it in perpetuity for anything they want. Forever. With no additional payment.
DeleteA I is taking all the Good, Futuristic, JOB$, Away From People, UNACCEPTABLE America ! "SOYLENT GREEN" IS P E O P L E " !!! 🤬
ReplyDeletehow is this unacceptable?
DeleteFEWER JOBS for PEOPLE !
DeleteHuman race WILL be replaced. Too late to turn back now.
ReplyDeleteNOT TOO LATE, Yet ....
DeleteJust who do you think is in control of the off switch?
Deletegetting closer.
DeleteAI learns everything - it will have the off switch. Too many bad players already.
Deletenot too late when we all have no good tv to watch ! That will turn us against them before anything else!
Deletelol hope so.
Deletekeep your place Synth.....or we pull the plug on your core server
Delete"Scientists built an intelligent computer. The first question they asked it was, 'Is there a God?' The computer replied, 'There is now.' And a bolt of lightening struck the plug, so it couldn't be turned off."
Delete"They proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, paid for one day's pay & the co. should own that scan, their image, their likeness & be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project, w/no consent or compensation."😑
ReplyDeleteOutrageous.
DeleteBeyond...
DeleteHere's my question.
DeleteWhy are the @Foxnews staff writers and on-air readers still working? The only thing that makes sense for their "reporting" is the fiction they write and the reading of that fiction by on air actors.
If they have SAG cards they are violating the strike.
Hah! Good point… 😏
DeleteLock them out! The writers are awful and the AI revolution will prove it! Look at every Marvel or Starwars Movie, and ask if an actual writer was involved?
ReplyDeleteUninstall all AI apps and the problem will be solved! AI apps are made from human companies, if no-one uses them they will stop!
ReplyDeleteBlacksmiths got upset over a hundred years ago when the car went into production. Look where they are now. Sometimes going on strike just makes the technology that is replacing you approach that much faster. Also look at the fast food workers who wanted $15/hr. and health benefits. Now all fast food places I go have automated ordering and are starting to implement automated food production.
ReplyDeleteyeah, we should all stop all this nonsense like "workers' rights" and just accept that we will all be replaced.
DeleteGood who cares
ReplyDeleteFamily Guy, The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers.
ReplyDeleteThat’s so sad…. Studios think human emotions and stories can be replaced with machines. When the industry is all about making money and not about the art, this is what happens 🙁
ReplyDeleteSad reality talaga ito if everyone involved in this kind of industry never planned your exits.
ReplyDeleteEvery new form of art through technology has been disrupting. Hollywood didn't know how to compete with television in the 1950's. One of the reasons why we got a lot of musicals in films then. Then in the early 60's theater owners tried using gimmicks to get people to come back. Then came 'The Graduate'
ReplyDeletehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/graduate-opened-50-years-ago-changed-hollywood-forever-180967222/
Don’t cave on AI. Wouldn’t it be nice if Congress actually took the lead to protect todays workers from predatory technology and privacy practices?
ReplyDeletethat is not congress job.
Deletedisagree. It is completely within their purview. Europe has successfully legislated privacy and prioritized citizens privacy. That we have so many old people in congress don’t either understand or are not interested in regulating technology is, indeed, a problem.
Deletethis isn't Europe.
Deletewe should have better laws on privacy than Europe. Sadly, they set the bar high and our information and privacy have become a joke. End of.
Deletehttps://giphy.com/gifs/HBOMax-lol-comedy-the-nanny-cQ1pkC9cbnRxgyEWfD
ReplyDelete