Hollywood Confronts AI Deepfake Challenges

Industry experts at the Produced By Conference, including CEO of Morgan Freeman's Revelations Entertainment, stressed the necessity for collaboration and regulations to counter AI deepfakes.

At the recent "Produced By Conference," the conversation turned to the technological disruptions sweeping through Hollywood, particularly the challenges and concerns related to artificial intelligence (AI). Lori McCreary, CEO of Morgan Freeman's Revelations Entertainment, spoke candidly about the unsettling ease with which AI can replicate Freeman’s distinct voice — an issue that strikes close to home for her.

As someone who oversees the use of Freeman’s image and voice, McCreary is usually adept at discerning authentic representations from fakes. However, the advent of sophisticated AI technologies has blurred these lines. She recalled an instance where she received a video that convincingly showed Freeman promoting a book — a clip so authentic that McCreary felt compelled to verify its authenticity with Freeman himself and his makeup artist.

This incident highlights the broader implications of advancing AI technologies in the entertainment industry. The ability of AI to create highly convincing deepfakes poses not just a threat to individual privacy and publicity rights, but also raises significant concerns for content creators about the control and authenticity of their work. To address these challenges, McCreary emphasized the importance of the industry coming together to develop tools that can verify the authenticity of digital content.

Also contributing to the panel was Renard T. Jenkins, President of I2A2 Technologies, Labs & Studios, and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Jenkins is at the forefront of developing solutions, like digital watermarks, to combat the proliferation of deepfakes. Such technological solutions, however, require collective effort and support from major studios to create an effective infrastructure for tracking content from its origin to distribution.

Adding a legal perspective, Ghaith Mahmood, a partner at Latham & Watkins, pointed out the absence of federal legislation in the U.S. comparable to European laws on AI and deepfakes. He highlighted the recent passage of the Elvis Act in Tennessee, which protects an individual's voice and likeness as part of their publicity rights, forbidding the use of one's voice and likeness without permission, especially if replicated by AI.

The discussion underscored the increasing sophistication of AI and a pressing need for proactive measures within the industry and even at the legislative level to manage and mitigate the potential risks brought by AI.