Background Actors Within Hollywood Say Something Very Bad About AI:
Hollywood actors are still on strike because they want better pay and don’t like how AI is being used more and more in production. Background actors are speaking regarding why the Screen Actors Guild’s decision to take action was the right one.
Almost 160,000 Actors And Artist Went To Strike Alongside Screenwriters For The Initial Time In More Than 60 Years:
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which is made up of about 160,000 actors and artists, agreed on July 14 to strike with screenwriters for the first time in more than 60 years.
As SAG president Fran Drescher said when declaring the guild’s decision to protest, AI is beginning to have an effect on show business.
This was immediately supported up by lower-paid artists who said they were beginning to have their likeness “scanned” on sets without any explanation of what could be performed with it in the future.
Rebecca Safier Also Get Scanned Upon The Set:
Rebecca Safier told in an exclusive interview regarding her recent experience as a background player being scanned on set. She said it’s hard for artists to know what is going to be done with their picture in the future.
She said, “I was scanned last year for a show, but I didn’t know what they were going to do with it.” “We arrived at the set to work as usual, but then they took us away together to a VFX trailer without really telling us why.”
The actor, who has been in shows like Westworld as well as The Guild, said that it was not the initial time she was being scanned while shooting.
Rebecca Safier Also Scanned For The Second Time Within 2019:
She went on to say, “I was scanned for another big movie in 2019, and the producers told me it was for a special effects shot because I was the only person who was seen walking close to where that effect was going to be put in.” I’ll just assume that’s true.’
She went on to explain why background players need better contracts: “Because there’s nothing about this in our contract right now, we’ve been told that we can refuse, yet certain individuals feel more comfortable performing that compared to others.”
“At the conclusion of the day, we don’t know what is going to be told to casting if anyone is considered “tough” or anything similar, which might impact hiring within the future.
It could also depend on the company whether or not people who don’t show up get paid for the day. Most people who work can’t afford to miss a work day.
Even though entertainment companies like Disney haven’t said much about their investments within AI, the job postings as well as financial reports looked at by The Intercept show how much these businesses are using the technology.
Netflix Recently Put Out A $900,000 Offer For A Single AI Product Manager:
In one situation, Netflix is willing to pay up to $900,000 for just one AI product manager. This summer is the initial occasion since 1960 that Hollywood actors as well as writers are on strike together. They want better pay and rules about how companies can use artificial intelligence.
Just after the actors’ strike was approved, the Alliance of Motion Picture as well as Television Producers, which represents the TV and film companies in negotiations with the actors as well as writers unions, disclosed “a groundbreaking AI proposal that safeguards actors’ digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members.”
The Strike Is About How Technology Has Altered Their Pay:
Only among the picket lines is anything going on in Hollywood. Thousands of writers and artists took to the streets to protest how technology has changed their pay.
One of the most important things they want is a change in how they get paid when their shows air upon streaming platforms such as Netflix. But directors’ use of AI is also getting more attention as worries regarding how companies could utilize actors’ likenesses grow.
This week’s show is hosted by Alice Fulwood as well as Mike Bird, who talk about how technology is changing Hollywood. Aryn Braun of The Economist talks to players who are on strike.
Tom Graham Stated That An AI Can Make Fan Fiction Movies Within Less Time And At Minimum Cost:
Analyst Michael Pachter clarifies why it might be good for Netflix to pay artists a lot more. And Tom Graham, who runs the effects company Metaphysic, says that AI could make fan fiction movies as good as any in Hollywood. It lasts 39 minutes.
Rebecca was most worried that she didn’t know about either show ahead of time: “I was also just caught off guard.” There was no warning in the reservation that they were going to be scanning on those days.
Rebecca said, in reference to the Alliance of Motion Picture as well as Television Producers’ plan, which led to the SAG walkout, “The studios’ proposal would definitely affect my ability to make money.”
A Background Actor Only Get $187 Base Pay But The Studio Can Use Their Avatar For Forever:
You can always find background information by the day. If they only want to hire me for one day to use my picture forever, I will only get a base rate of $187. This is the text on the ticket that we sign every time we go to work. The ticket is like a timecard and a contract all in one.
Based on the company, they look different, but they all say the same things. It covers the day’s work, and there is worry that the scanning, which is done as a component of the day’s work, could be a gap.’
“So $900k/yr per soldier for a godless AI army when that amount of wages might be eligible thirty-five actors as well as their households for SAG-AFTRA health insurance was just ghoulish,” actor Rob Delaney, who played a major part during the “Black Mirror” episode, tells The Intercept.
The Background Actor Said That The Studio Can Not Use Their Avatar Without Providing Them Sufficient Money:
“I’ve been both wealthy and poor in this business, so I know there’s enough money for everyone. It’s just a matter of setting priorities.” The artists who are on strike want to make sure that their scanned picture can’t be changed by AI without giving them enough money.
Hollywood is not unique to AI. Producers use it to study how people watch their shows, figure out how old stars are, as well as bring dead actors back to life within sound as well as on screen.
Within 2023 AI Can Write A Good Tale With The Help Of Big Language Models:
But the first signs of A.I. driven by big language models, there is a chance that robots could be used to write stories as well as scripts for crime shows, cartoon series, and other predictable TV shows.
Human writers would only have to add more detail to the work that the computer made. Actors are worried that companies will use AI to scan and copy them, which would cut production costs and complexity by a huge amount.
AI Is A Big Problem For Us Because A AI Can Generate Images From Text:
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, who is the National Executive Director of SAG and its top negotiator, told that the danger of AI has been a problem for the group for a long time.
“AI is not an unfamiliar subject for us, yet the changes that have happened within the past eighteen months have truly altered the game,” he said at the SAG-AFTRA protest protest within New York upon Tuesday.
“Fair protections for informed approval and fair compensation are very important to us when it comes to AI.” He went on to say, “It shouldn’t be hard for the companies to agree to.” If you just want to be fair to your people, you can agree to everything we suggest.
Definitely, he added, “This is a fight we have every day, not just today.” In fact, I was upon a strike at Disney, where I met teens who work there and are afraid about whether or not AI will make their jobs obsolete.
“I mean, if a 14-year-old has concerns about how he will take away their job, that shows you something needed to be done.”
Duncan said, “I don’t think it’s just in this business.” We may be the beginning, but as a society, we all need to care regarding ensuring that AI is utilized in a way that is fair to people and focuses on them.
In the past few weeks, a lot of other minor actors have gone on social media to talk about how they were “scanned” on set without being told much about how their picture would be utilized in the future.
Upon 13th July Background Actor Stated On X That Disney Done A Scan For The Movie Titled “Cruella de Vil”:
On July 13, background character Dariush Seif-Amirhosseini said on Twitter that he thought scans were being done for Disney’s Cruella de Vil movie, which will come out in 2021.
He wrote, “I was an extra in Cruella, and all of us were scanned. We were informed it was supposed to make people look bigger, so I wasn’t thinking much of it at the time, but I wish it hadn’t happened.
“As for my contract, I don’t even remember signing one, but I must have done so at some point.” I know for sure I never got a copy due to the fact that I just went through all the papers from that time.
The actor went on to say, “What happened was that we were shooting as usual, and throughout the night, crew members would come up to about two or three background actors and take them somewhere.” I didn’t know we were going to a trailer alongside a reading machine until it was my turn.
Jeff Pedowtiz, an expert on AI revenue, says that the technology has quite a ways to go prior to it completely replaces background players, but he told that “it is absolutely an appropriate concern.”
He said that artists were right to ask for a new business plan that would make sure they would be paid forever. People who watch TV and movies have noticed that CGI folks have been showing in the background of shows and movies, but the effects aren’t always great.
Once A Background Actor Get Scanned And Pay Them For One Day, Now The Studio Can Use Their Avatar For Forever Without Additional Payment:
“They want our background actors to be able to be scanned and paid for one day’s work,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA.
“Their company should own that scans, their image, their likeness, as well as be capable to use it for the rest of time in any project they want without permission or payment,” he added.
What Does An Actor Have To Do?
The SAG-AFTRA deal says that the daily rate for background players can be around $200. Realeyes is offering a little more than $300 for two hours of work to “express different emotions” as well as “improvise brief scenes” to “train an artificial intelligence database to better express human emotions.”
Realeyes makes technology that can measure how people watch and respond to videos. Even though the posting doesn’t say anything about collaborating with streaming businesses, a movie on Realeyes’s website shows the Netflix and Hulu logos in a big way.
Now With The Help Of AI Movie Maker Can Make Digital Actors Who Replaces Human:
Experts wonder if there is really such a clear line between study and business work. Ben Zhao, a professor of computer science at the University of Chicago, said, “It’s almost a sure thing that this “study,” when it’s turned into a business, will be used to make digital actors that replace humans.”
“The’ research’ part of this is mostly a distraction,” he said. “Research in industry moves into commercial products.”
AI Is Not Only For Scriptwriters And Artist But It’s A Threat For All Of Us:
AI’s changes may have serious consequences not only for scriptwriters as well as artists, but for all of us as well. The idea behind generative AI is that new material is made based on what has already been made.
After all, we teach kids through helping them read, learn numbers, theories, hear stories, and look at pictures. This trains their brains to come up with new words, pictures, and ideas when they need to, whether it’s to finish a task, convince a jury, or make a friend.
Large language models for artificial intelligence were made to look like they could do these things that the brain does.
One Way That Disney Uses Scanned Images Of People:
In April, fans found out that a whole row of people within the background of a scene within the Disney+ movie Prom Pact were computer-generated pictures. This made the scene go viral.
In the scene, the cheer team from a high school is singing at a basketball game. The camera moves to the seats, where some of the team members are clapping.
Disney Used CGI People Within Prom Pact Movie:
When you look at the second row, you can see the CGI people who look so scary.’ When Kelsey picked out the non-human extras, social media fans rushed to the comments section to say how scared they were of the CGI people in the second row.
The director of Netflix’s hit show Cobra Kai, Zack Arnold, told that the choice by SAG and the WGA to go on strike was an important one because AI is destroying the way our industry works.
He said that the new technology is “such an existential threat that I believe both the writers as well as the actors have shown they are unwilling to concede anything less than what they want throughout these negotiations.” This is not anything short of a paradigm shift.
Due To Protest Many Movie Have Been Put Upon Hold:
Because of the strikes, a lot of big movies have been put on hold, including the eagerly awaited Deadpool 3, Gladiator 2, and Venom 3 with Tom Hardy.
A remake of the 1996 movie Twisters starring Daisy Edgar-Jones has also been put on hold, as has the popular HBO show Euphoria, which has been moved to 2025.
AI Operations At Disney:
Disney has also posted job openings linked to artificial intelligence. For example, the entertainment giant is searching for a senior AI engineer to “drive innovation across our cinematic pipelines as well as theatrical experiences.”
In the writing, they talk about how AI is already being used by big Disney companies like Marvel, Walt Disney Animation, as well as Pixar. Within a recent earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger talked about how hard it would be for the company to add AI to the way it does business now.
Iger Recently Said That They Are Presently Started To Use AI So They Can Serve Better To Customer:
Iger was recently quoted by journalist Lee Fang as saying, “We’re presently beginning to use artificial intelligence (AI) to make some efficiencies as well as ultimately serve customers better.”
“But it’s also clear that AI will prove to be very disruptive, and it might prove very hard to manage, especially from an IP management point of view,” Iger added.
Iger Additionally Stated That Our Legal Team Working Overtime To Discover Which Type Of Problem Could Be:
Iger also said, “I am able to inform you that our legal team has begun working overtime to try to figure out what some of the problems could be.” Iger wouldn’t say more, but Disney’s papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission may give some hints.
“Rules governing novel advances in technology, such as developments within generative AI, are still not clear,” the report says.
“These developments may change parts of our current business model, such as how we make money from using our intellectual property and how we make entertainment products.”
The Actor Who Are Upon Protest They Want To Safeguard Their Intellectual Property From AI:
The striking actors want to safeguard their own intellectual property from AI, which Iger said was “just not realistic.” So does Disney. “It seems clear that the entertainment industry was willing to make huge investments in generative AI,” Zhao said.
“Not only could they spend hundreds of millions of dollars, but they could also give valuable access to their intellectual property so that AI models could be trained to replace human creatives such as actors, writers, as well as journalists for a tiny fraction of what they make now.”
For Few Artist This Fight Is Not Against Ai But They Just Want Fair Working Conditions:
For some artists, this isn’t a fight against the sci-fi nightmare of AI, but just a fight for fair working conditions within their business and power over their own faces, bodies, moves, and speech patterns.
“AI isn’t bad; it’s just that workers must own and exercise authority over the means of creation!” said Delaney. “My sweet voice, my broad shoulders, and the wavy bottom of a dancer?
I decide how they are used, not a board of VC angel investor scumbags meeting within a Sun Valley conference room between niacin IV drinks or whatever they do.”
