SAG-AFTRA Introduces AI Voice Agreement
SAG-AFTRA has partnered with Replica Studios, enabling actors to create and license AI voice clones for video games and other projects, while ensuring fair compensation and consent rights.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) has partnered with Replica Studios, a company specializing in AI-powered voice actors, to offer its members the opportunity to create and license digital simulations of their voices. This agreement, announced at the CES tech expo in Las Vegas by SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, offers a new avenue for voice actors to engage with emerging technologies while ensuring their rights are protected.
This deal emerges as a significant development following SAG-AFTRA’s strike last year, which aimed at securing greater safeguards against the misuse of AI in the entertainment industry. The Guild’s successful negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) led to a mandate requiring studios to obtain permission from actors for digital cloning and to provide compensation for the use of these clones.
Crabtree-Ireland emphasized that the agreements with Replica Studios are a testament to the union’s commitment to collaborating with employers to benefit and protect its members in the face of new technological advancements. The Replica deal, specifically, will allow voice actors to explore new job opportunities involving their digital voice replicas, complete with industry-leading protections tailored to AI technology. The agreement not only establishes minimum rates for voice actors but also ensures transparency and consent for the usage of digital voice replicas in future projects. Furthermore, it confirms the secure storage of performers' data, addressing the concerns around AI’s potential to cheapen and replace traditional voice acting methods.
The union praised the deal as a model example of responsible AI implementation, but also acknowledged that AI, which can efficiently create convincing digital replicas of performer voices, poses a significant challenge, especially in the video game industry where many actors work predominantly in voice-over roles. Shreyas Nivas, CEO of Replica Studios, highlighted the potential benefits, noting its capacity to streamline and economize processes like those seen in the creation of video games with extensive dialogue.
The union's proactive approach comes in response to concerns about the unregulated use of AI in creating and modifying digital likenesses and voices. Voice actors, recognizing the inevitability of AI’s advancement, have been vocal about the necessity for contracts that ensure their consent and compensation for the use of their likeness and voice. And this new deal marks a crucial step in addressing the ethical and practical implications of AI in the entertainment industry by setting precedents for consent and compensation.