SAG-AFTRA and Studios Reach Tentative Deal on AI Protections

Deal Includes Provisions for Digital Replicas, but Concerns Remain Over Potential for Studios to Strong-Arm Actors

SAG-AFTRA and the studios have reached a tentative deal that includes provisions over artificial intelligence, with requirements surrounding notice, consent and compensation around digital replicas of actors and 'synthetic performers' created by AI tools.
The deal allows studios to negotiate directly with performers for approval of AI use, potentially enabling studios to strong-arm actors into accepting terms that allow the use of digital doubles.
The agreement splits a digital replica into two types: employment-based and independently-created, with notable restrictions on consent and compensation for both groups.
Schedule F performers, who make over $80,000 for a film, are exempt from certain payment rules, potentially leading to normalization of terms that allow use of digital clones over the duration of a franchise.
Despite some objections, it is widely expected that the deal will be ratified by SAG-AFTRA membership, after 86% of the guild’s national board of directors approved the three-year pact.