California bill protecting actors from AI replicas heads to Newsom

( NewsNation ) — A California bill that would protect performers from unauthorized AI-generated digital replicas will head to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk after being approved in the state senate this week.

The California Senate passed Assembly Bill 2602 on Tuesday in a 37 to 1 vote marking a victory for SAG-AFTRA , the performers union, which pushed for the legislation’s passing.

The bill requires explicit consent by a performer for the use of a “digital replica” of their voice or likeness if its usage replaces work that the performer could have done in person.

It also states that AI replicas cannot be used unless employers specify in a contract how the replica will be utilized and if the performer did not have legal or union representation when the deal was made.

The bill matches language in the SAG-AFTRA contract that ended the monthslong strike against film and TV studios last year, reported Variety . AI replicas were one of the union’s major concerns during the strike.

The legislation would also extend protections to include other types of performances, such as video games, audiobooks and commercials and would also encompass nonunion work, according to the outlet.

“Voice and likeness rights, in an age of digital replication, must have strong guardrails around licensing to protect from abuse; this bill provides those guardrails,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said in a statement.

“The bill, which protects not only SAG-AFTRA performers but all performers, is a huge step forward,” he said.

The Motion Picture Association, which lobbies on behalf of the major studios, initially opposed the bill, citing hardship in post-production, but eventually backed off.

SAG-AFTRA pushed for the legislation due to heightened worries over broad language in commonly used performer contracts that grant rights to use an actor’s likeness “throughout the universe” and “in all media whether now known or hereafter devised.”

“We’re looking to make sure people who aren’t currently covered by one of our agreements are protected,” Jeffrey Bennett, general counsel of SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement. “We don’t want to see the next generation of performers lose all rights to voice and likeness because they don’t have any leverage or ability to effectuate fair terms.”

The recent bill is one of three bills the union has helped draft in an effort to protect performers from unfair and exploitative AI use.

The union also supports the “No Fakes Act,” a federal law that would make it unlawful to create a digital replica of anyone, not just performers, without their consent.

SAG-AFTRA is currently on strike against the major video game companies after negotiations stalled over the AI provisions. More than 300 video game performers and Hollywood actors picketed in front of the Warner Bros. Studios building earlier this month to protest against what they call an unwillingness from top gaming companies to protect union voice actors and motion capture workers equally against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence.

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