In a statement on the strike, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said its proposal “includes a breakthrough AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members.”
When asked about the proposal during the press conference, Crabtree-Ireland said: “This ‘groundbreaking’ AI proposal that they brought to us yesterday proposed that our background artists could be scanned and paid a daily wage, and their companies should too do.” Owners of this scan, their image, their likeness, and should be able to use it for whatever project they want for the rest of eternity, without consent and without compensation. So if you think this is a groundbreaking proposal, I encourage you to think again.”
The use of generative AI was one of the biggest sticking points in the negotiations between the two sides (it’s also a key issue behind the writers’ strike), and in her opening statement at the press conference, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said: “If we don’t stand firm now, we all get into trouble and risk being replaced by machines.”
The SAG-AFTRA strike will officially begin at midnight tonight.
Disclosure: The Verge editorial board is also unionized at the Writers Guild of America, East.