Abigail is an editor for ScreenRant, currently writing and editing movie news. You may also have seen her thoughts on animated television, musical theater, and fantasy literature in Pasta Magazine, Fantasy Hive, or The Oxford Blue. She has also written SR lists and op-eds covering movies, TV, and books as well. She is an English major through and through, having graduated with a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and an MPhil from Oxford University.
This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
Labor union SAG-AFTRA, representing approximately 160,000 performers and media professionals, has released a condemning statement responding to the recent news of some Hollywood agencies looking to sign AI actor Tilly Norwood.
SAG-AFTRA’s statement emphasizes the danger AI performers pose to human actors and artists, potentially putting them out of work and moving art away from human creation. Read the full statement below:
SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centered. The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics.
To be clear, “Tilly Norwood” is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers — without permission or compensation. It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesnt solve any “problem” — it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.
Additionally, signatory producers should be aware that they may not use synthetic performers without complying with our contractual obligations, which generally require notice and bargaining whenever a synthetic performer is going to be used.
This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.