Hollywood Actors’ Union SAG-AFTRA Partners with Narrativ to Regulate AI Voice Replications for Advertisements

2024-08-14 14:06:49

Die Hollywood actors’ union SAG-AFTRA announced on Wednesday an agreement with the online talent marketplace Narrativ, allowing actors to sell advertisers rights for the reproduction of their voices using artificial intelligence.

As performers worry that AI will make the theft of their likeness commonplace, the new agreement aims to ensure that actors benefit from the technology and maintain control over how and when their voice replicas are used.

Not all members will be interested in taking advantage of the possibilities that licensing their digital voice copies could offer, and that is understandable, said SAG-AFTRA representative Duncan Crabtree-Ireland in a statement. “But for those who do, there is now a secure option.”

Narrativ connects advertisers and advertising agencies with actors to create audio advertising using AI.

Under the agreement, an actor can set the price for an advertiser for the digital reproduction of their voice, provided it meets at least the SAG-AFTRA minimum wage for audio advertising. Brands must obtain the actors’ consent for any advertisement that uses the digital voice copy.

The union welcomed the pact with Narrativ as a standard for the ethical use of AI-generated voice replicas in advertising. Actress Scarlett Johansson raised awareness of the dangers earlier this year when she accused OpenAI of copying her voice for its AI conversation system.

The technology was also a central topic during last year’s strike in Hollywood, the first simultaneous strike of actors and writers in 63 years.

Voice actors in video games and motion capture performers declared a strike last month after negotiations for a labor contract aimed at protecting workers in relation to AI fell through.

In Congress, a bill named the NO FAKES Act has been introduced, granting every person rights to their own voice and likeness and making the copying of AI without permission illegal. SAG-AFTRA, the Motion Picture Association, The Recording Academy, and Disney support the bill.

The spread of so-called deepfakes, which are highly realistic videos generated by AI trained on real voices and images, and their role in manipulating public opinion have also raised alarms worldwide. (Reports by Danielle Broadway and Dawn Chmielewski; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)