The California Senate on Tuesday approved a bill to protect artists from unauthorized AI copies, and it is set to head to the governor's desk soon.
The Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA has made the bill one of its top legislative priorities this year. AB 2602 would require explicit consent to use a “digital copy” of an actor.
The bill mirrors language in the Screen Actors Guild/Television Actors Guild contract that ended a four-month strike last year against film and TV studios. It also aims to extend that protection to other types of offerings, such as video games, audiobooks and commercials, as well as to non-union work.
“We want to make sure that people who are not currently covered by our agreements are protected,” said Jeffrey Bennett, general counsel of the SAG. “We don’t want to see the next generation of artists lose all their rights to sound and image because they don’t have the leverage or ability to negotiate fair terms.”
The Motion Picture Association, which lobbies on behalf of major studios, initially opposed the bill, arguing that it would interfere with common post-production techniques. Lawmakers changed some of the language to address those concerns, and the MPAA ultimately took a neutral position.
The Assembly passed the bill in May by a vote of 62-0. The Senate passed it by a vote of 36-1. Because it was amended in the Senate, it must return to the Assembly for approval before it goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
This bill is one of several bills being considered by the legislature to address potential threats from artificial intelligence.
The union proposed the legislation because of concerns about the blanket language in many performance contracts that grants the right to use an actor's image “throughout the universe” and “in all media now known or hereafter invented.”
Smart lawyers could interpret these contracts—which an actor might sign to shoot a commercial for a day—as granting the right to use AI to create other shows. In a nightmare scenario, the actor could end up competing with his counterpart for the work.
The bill requires that rights to the AI copy be explicitly negotiated, and that the contract include a “reasonable and specific” description of the end use. This language also appears in the SAG and PTA contracts with studios.
Contracts that do not contain such language will be unenforceable.
“We wanted to make sure that these rights don’t automatically transfer,” Bennett said. “You have to explicitly want these rights. You have to say you want them, and talk about the uses they might bring.”
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) has now announced a strike against major video game companies, after negotiations over artificial intelligence provisions stalled.
The Screen Actors Guild and broadcast agencies are also pushing for a federal law, the “No-Counterfeiting Act,” that would make it illegal to create a digital copy of anyone — whether an artist or a regular person — without their consent.
The Documentary Film Association warned that the wording of such laws in general could conflict with the First Amendment by prohibiting the use of historical figures in documentaries. After reviewing the Anti-Counterfeiting Act to address this issue, the Documentary Film Association expressed its support for the law.
The Screen Actors Guild and the Motion Picture and Television Actors Association are also pushing for Bill 1836, which would protect digital copies of deceased artists. The Motion Picture and Television Actors Association is neutral on the bill.
