New AI Protections Laws Aren’t a ‘Silver Bullet’ Against Rapidly Changing Tech, Says Top SAG-AFTRA Lawyer

AI protections just signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom aren’t a “silver bullet” that will solve all the problems of the rapidly advancing technology, said SAG-AFTRA’s general counsel Jeffrey Bennett at TheGrill conference this week.

“It’s a web of protections,” Bennett said of the union’s ongoing efforts to pass laws on the state, federal and local level to protect performers from unauthorized use of their likenesses. “None of these are the silver bullet that’s going to solve problems that we’re going to have to deal with when it comes to digital replication or synthetic content.”

The new Newsom-backed laws in California require contracts to specify the use of AI-generated digital replicas of a performer’s voice or likeness and prohibit the use of AI replicas of deceased performers without the consent of their estates.

The conversations with legislators and stakeholders in Hollywood and the tech industry surrounding what is covered by the First Amendment have been “exhaustive,” Bennett said in conversation with senior film reporter Jeremy Fuster at TheWrap’s annual conference.

“You’ve got decades and decades of case law dealing with the First Amendment and balancing it with IP rights. And that language was a huge compromise among broadcasters, studios, record labels, First Amendment scholars, artist advocacy groups, and obviously the unions,” said Bennett.

He added, “It is an imperfect compromise to accomplish a goal that I feel is urgent.”

Bennett explained he can accept compromises on other front if SAG-AFTRA’s main goals are met: “I am willing to live with those if I get an intellectual property right and voice likeness that — most importantly — allows you to take stuff down off of platforms,” he said, referring to the NO FAKES Act .

Bennett also discussed the post-strike developments in the fight to ensure that actors are guaranteed consent, compensation and control over use of their voice, likeness and performances in any AI programs used in productions.

Currently, SAG-AFTRA is on a new strike against video game and post-production companies that are signed to the Interactive Media Agreement, including Warner Bros. Games, Disney Character Voices, Activision Blizzard and Formosa Group. While the union came to terms with the companies on nearly all contract issues, the strike was ordered after SAG-AFTRA found the companies’ terms on AI protections to be too limiting in their scope.

SAG-AFTRA says the companies’ proposal would particularly leave motion capture performers vulnerable, as they are only offering performers rights to have consent and compensation over AI replications of their mocap work if it is for characters that share a likeness to the performer. Those characters make only a small fraction of the characters motion performers play for video games.

“What we’re saying to the video game companies is, ‘Step up, do the same thing that all these other industries and companies have done, and respect human creative performance, whether that’s voice or physical performance,” Bennett told TheWrap.

“If you are bringing people in to perform, to animate the characters in your video game, you need those human performances. Don’t then turn around and replicate those and use them across characters and across other video games without consent for each and every time you want to use that person’s performance. That’s as simple as I can put it,” he stated.

He cited the June Toys R Us ad created by OpenAI’s SORA as one of the most puzzling examples of what AI is currently being used for. “I’ve heard a lot of these AI companies talk, and they like to promise that AI will deliver scientific breakthroughs, medical breakthroughs, solve climate change,” said Bennett. “So why are you spending $100 billion to build a machine to make a Toys R Us ad? I don’t understand. I’m hopeful that consumers may agree with me that they don’t want to see all their content be synthetic.”

In 2025, Congress is expected to push forward on further AI regulations that SAG-AFTRA and other entertainment labor unions are lobbying for, including the NO FAKES Act , which has been introduced to both the House and Senate and enjoys bipartisan support.

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