Replica Studios , an artificial intelligence (AI) voice technology company, and The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) announced today the introduction of a controversial AI voice agreement during an event at CES. This new agreement paves the way for professional voice over artists to explore new employment opportunities for their digital voice replicas, but critics argue that it falls short in providing adequate protections. The agreement, which is being promoted as a groundbreaking step forward, has faced backlash from voice actors who feel that their concerns have been overlooked.
SAG-AFTRA had previously joined the Writers Guild of America in demanding a contract with AI regulations to protect writers and the works they create. The WGA had demanded that “AI can’t write or rewrite literary material; it can’t be used as source material; and [works covered by union contracts] can’t be used to train AI.” However, it seems that these calls for equality fell on deaf ears within SAG, as demonstrated by this latest agreement.
The agreement with Replica Studios establishes safeguards for the licensing of digitally replicated voices, according to a news release from the union. The agreement was made public at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and requires the company to obtain consent before using replicated voices, while also allowing performers to decline continued use of their voices in future projects. Replica, which claims to be building “the world’s greatest library of AI-powered voice actors,” plans to license AI voices for video game development and other media projects.
SAG-AFTRA’s new contract with major film and television studios, which was ratified last month, also requires producers to obtain actors’ permission and pay them to replicate their likenesses with AI. Video game voice actors and motion capture performers voted in September to authorize a strike if negotiations for a new labor contract fell through. SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, told NBC News that the agreement with Replica will help boost trust in the industry among actors who work in video games and is a step forward for all performers.
In the midst of the uproar, some voice actors have pointed out that the union only last year authorized a strike (though it did not actually go on strike) over, among other things, AI protections. While this is true, agreements like the one with Replica appear to fall within those stated protections. There are also some online who state that the guilds had this type of replacement effect coming for a while over industry slights and public relations.
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Others are upset that the agreement was apparently reached without broad communication to union members at large, with many voice actors claiming that they had no say in the final decision and are unaware of the terms of the agreement. While the press release claims that the agreement was “approved by affected members of the union’s voiceover performer community,” many say they were caught off guard.
However, the actors’ concerns reflect a broader concern among entertainers and people in many other creative fields. Many people are concerned that if there is no strict regulation, their work will be replicated and remixed by artificial intelligence tools, reducing their control over their work and hurting their ability to earn a living.
Before she was selling out her union responsibilities for actors who might be affected most, Crabtree-Ireland seemed to have some of the actor’s concerns in mind during the WGA/SAG joint strike: “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 should be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want, with no consent and no compensation,” Duncan stated back in July.
While the guild has praised the agreement as “groundbreaking,” a number of voice actors have taken to social media today to express their concern, anger, and confusion about it. Many SAG-AFTRA voice actors, as many have pointed out, do not want companies to be able to create AI doubles of their voices at all, regardless of the terms.
In response to the criticism, SAG-AFTRA and Replica Studios have emphasized that the agreement is not a blanket rule governing how AI and voice actors will interact in the future, but rather a specific agreement with Replica that actors can opt into, taking advantage of the agreed-upon protections. They maintain that there are ongoing discussions with companies about AI protections and other issues.
“Our AI deal with Replica Studios is an important step in ensuring the ethical application of these technologies in a way that ensures the use of members’ voices occurs only with informed consent and fair compensation. This is a deal that covers one company, with regard to the development of video games. This deal does not impact our IMA negotiations. Rather, it sets a model for our industry, building on the terms approved by 80% of our members just a month ago, and we hope to see more companies adopting agreements like this one.” said Crabtree-Ireland.
Do you think having AI voice actors is a waste of resources and talent or do you believe that efficiency rules over creativity? Let us know with a comment below!
I’ll admit, that was really stupid of SAG-AFTRA to do something like this. Though there are voice actors I don’t like either.🤔