Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541667
sagaftra.org | Fall/Winter 2025 | SAG-AFTRA 71 MARCH 202 3 SAG-AF TRA announces that digital replicas are a mandator y subject of bargaining, meaning companies are required to bargain with the union before attempting to acquire these rights in individual performers' contracts. In the same announcement, the union clarifies Global Rule One — one of its founding principles: that members do not work without a union contract where there are industr ywide agreements in place — for digital replica use. The union also co-founds the Human Artistr y Campaign, ensuring that voice and likeness are included in its principles. JUNE 202 3 SAG-AF TRA's Government Affairs and Public Policy team starts drafting the NO FAKES Act. The legislation will prohibit the nonconsensual use of a voice or likeness digital replica in sound recordings and audiovisual works and would create the first-ever intellectual property right in voice and likeness, allowing individuals to notify online platforms about replicas and demand takedowns. We have been aggressively working on and lobbying for this bill nonstop ever since. OC TOBER 202 3 SAG-AF TRA submits comments regarding A.I. to the U.S. Copyright Office. In that same month, a discussion draft of the NO FAKES Act is introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Coons, Tillis, Blackburn and Klobuchar. FEBRUARY 202 3 SAG-AF TRA presents A.I. in entertainment presentation to government, employer and labor representatives at the International Labor Organization technical meeting in Geneva. The first mentions of A.I. are included in an ILO media sector working paper. OC TOBER 2024 SAG-AF TRA signs an agreement with Ethovox, a company building a fully authenticated foundational A.I model for voice that includes the union's A.I. guardrails. 2023 JANUARY 202 3 SAG-AF TRA presents CES panel track Future Shock on the impact of A.I. in the media and entertainment industr y. JULY 202 3 SAG-AF TRA's T V/ Theatrical/Streaming strike begins. The strike is due in part to the employers' unwillingness to offer a deal that includes fair and fundamental A.I. protections. DECEMBER 202 3 SAG-AF TRA members ratify the new T V/ Theatrical/Streaming agreement, which includes historic digital replica terms and A.I. protections. SEP TEMBER 2024 AB 1836 and AB 2602 are signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Cagney Boardroom at SAG-AF TRA Plaza in Los Angeles. The legislation empowers individuals and their estates with the right to informed consent in authorizing use of their digital replicas. That same month, SAG-AF TRA submits comments to the F TC on impersonation rules for digital replicas, the NO FAKES Act is officially reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, and SAG-AF TRA submits comments to the FCC on digital replicas in political advertising.