Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) Announces New Artificial Intelligence centered agreement

On August 14, 2024, America’s largest actor’s union (representing 160,000 media artists), SAG-AFTRA, unveiled a new agreement called Narrativ; this agreement will allow union members to license their “digital voice” for use in digital audio advertisements.  Artificial intelligence (A.I.) was one of the main focal points surrounding the call to strike last year that crippled Hollywood and whose impact has been estimated to cost the national economy over $6 billion.[1] SAG-AFTRA hailed the new agreement as a way to ensure “[union members] will be protected and compensated fairly for every use of their digital voice replica.”  The union promoted the following elements of the new agreement:

• Informed Consent: Union Members will have oversight over every single use of their digital voice replica in a commercial. After reviewing a brand’s engagement offer, which must identify the product or service being promoted and include the draft audio advertisement, they can choose to accept or decline the offer.
• Compensation That You Choose: Members can set their own price for the use of their digital voice replica, with SAG-AFTRA minimums in place to protect their value and the opportunity to bargain for more on every job. Health and Retirement contributions will be made on all performer compensation, which will help performers qualify for benefits.
• Control Over Your Voice: When a member set’s up their profile on the platform, they can opt out of categories of ads they don’t want to promote. If a performer decides to leave the platform, Narrativ must delete their digital voice replica, and any recordings used to create it.

Let’s Talk Big Picture

As A.I. continues to impact every industry it is essential to track and stay abreast of the changing landscape. A.I. is unregulated by the federal government, and many of the “guardrails” being implemented are at the behest of labor unions, lobbyists, and litigants.  This is a new frontier, that intersects cutting edge technology, privacy concerns and opportunities for explosive capital growth.

SAG-AFTRA promised its members that the union would prevent the wanton theft of an actor’s likeness – a fear that increased as movie studios began to digitally de-age, or “resurrect” prominent stars.  Questions began swirling about who owned these digital images: the actor, a deceased actor’s estate, a movie studio, or even a company who may have been granted a license (presumably from the actor).

All of these scenarios have huge implications for the money behind a production.  Insurance and bond companies stay alert.  Insurance companies should ensure that their policies are updated to reflect these new “digital voice” agreements.  The new ad’s will presumably allow for more efficient, customizable and impactful ad campaigns.  However, the potential for lawsuits could also grow: i.e., a hack of the platform could expose performer profiles (a specific digital voice, or even personal information).  Production bonds or insurance coverage for both commercials and larger format releases will also be impacted.

[1] The overall impact of the strike is still being tallied.  Some analysts estimate the cost of the 118-day strike led to a staggering loss of 42,700 jobs and $10.5 billion in GDP. Several days after the strike was lifted, Reuters estimated the cost of the combined SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America (WGA) strikes were “more than $6 billion in lost wages and business impacts across California…Georgia and New Mexico.”