Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1520149
44 SAG-AFTRA | Spring 2024 | sagaftra.org Fred Redmond as well as SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President Linda Powell, Secretary-Treasurer Joely Fisher, and Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh, among others. TV/THEATRICAL CONTR ACTS The A.I. provisions achieved in the 2023 TV/Theatrical Contracts laid the first guideposts for a future where performers are protected in this new technological age. They represent SAG-AFTRA's most significant achievement in terms of A.I. The contracts contain the first-ever language around the use of the technology — establishing protections for performers that have never been in place before. Bargaining around the use of A.I. will continue to be one of the most important challenges SAG-AFTRA faces. As A.I. takes new forms with unprecedented capabilities, SAG-AFTRA is dedicated to establishing the broadest possible protections for professional performers' images, voices, likenesses and performances. The union will fight to prevent infringement and, in addition to achieving contractual protections, pursue and support legislative efforts. Some of the gains achieved in the 2023 TV/Theatrical Contracts include: • Informed consent and compensation for the creation and use of digital replicas of our members, living and deceased, whether created on set or licensed for use. • Language establishing that performers are now entitled to consent when a producer uses the performer 's name and features to prompt a generative ar tificial intelligence system to create a "synthetic performer " or "fake" with a principal facial feature (eyes, ears, nose and/or mouth) that 's recognizable as that of the performer. When it comes to A.I., actors and their employers are now on a level playing field. We've secured the initial foundation of protections that will carry our industry into future negotiations. SOUND RECORDINGS CODE On April 12, SAG-AFTRA and the leading record labels — Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Disney Music Group — announced a tentative multiyear agreement on a successor contract to the SAG-AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Sound Recordings (see page 20). The artificial intelligence guardrails in the agreement establish that the terms "artist," "singer" and "royalty artist," only include humans. Clear and conspicuous A.I. consent is required, along with minimum compensation requirements and specific details of intended use prior to the release of a sound recording that uses a digital replication of an artist's voice. TV ANIMATION CONTR ACTS The new TV Animation Contracts, ratified on March 22, were built on the gains of the TV/Theatrical agreement (see page 20) to secure improved protections for animation actors. Understanding that issues related to artificial intelligence are of critical significance to our members, the negotiating team was focused and aggressive in ensuring that this agreement built on the terms established in the TV/Theatrical Contracts and, most importantly, that the improvements we achieved were specific and directly relevant to the unique needs of the voiceover/animation community. The agreement includes these improvements specific to voice acting: • It codifies that the term "voice actors" refers to and includes only humans, demonstrating in contract language that voice acting is and can only be performed by human beings. • It removes the requirement that a digital replica must exclusively sound like the recognizable natural voice of an actor in order to be protected. Given that animation voiceover performances often achieve a distinct character voice that doesn't sound necessarily like the actor 's normal speaking voice, we gained a critical new A.I. recognizability approach. • "Employment-based digital replicas," need only be recognized and identifiable via contracts and other regular business documents, confirming that it was in fact the performer's voice used to make the replica. • "Independently created digital replicas" need only sound like the "character voice" (the animated character) from which the replica was created. • If the voice actor 's performance is digitally altered into a foreign language, the voice actor shall be eligible for residual s based on the distribution of the foreign-language version. • Residual s for use of an employment-based digital replica are based on how much the voice actor is paid for use of the digital replica in addition to the time the voice actor would have spent performing, rather than defaulting to a day player par ticipation. • When prompting a generative ar tificial intelligence system with a performer name or names, consent of those performers is required. We have removed the requirement, National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Chief Labor Policy Officer Rebecca Damon and General Counsel Jeffrey Bennett visit with senators during the A.I. Insight Forum held in Washington, D.C. in November. A.I. continues on page 48