Today SAG-AFTRA announced an agreement with the AI voice platform Narrativ which prompts actors to license their AI voice replicas for digital ads.
The announcement from the US-based actors Union defines the agreement as “exciting” and mentions that Narrativ has agreed to the union’s conditions that involve “informed consent, compensation and individual control requirements”.
The key elements of the agreement include the following.
- Informed Consent: You will have oversight over every single use of your digital voice replica in a commercial. After reviewing a brand’s engagement offer, which must identify the product or service being promoted and include the draft audio advertisement, you can choose to accept or decline the offer.
- Compensation That You Choose: You can set your own price for the use of your digital voice replica, with SAG-AFTRA minimums in place to protect your value and the opportunity to bargain for more on every job. Health and Retirement contributions will be made on all performer compensation, which will help performers qualify for benefits.
- Control Over Your Voice: When you set up your profile on the platform, you can opt out of categories of ads you don’t want to promote. If you decide to leave the platform, Narrativ must delete your digital voice replica and any recordings used to create it.
The announcement goes on to mention that the agreement was drawn with the input of SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contracts Standing Committee, which is said to be staffed by working commercial performers. It was approved by the same body and by the National Executive Committee.
The union released a video on social media featuring Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland as he boasts about the partnership and mentions that “many” members conveyed to him “personally” their interest in the technology.
It’s worth mentioning that the reactions to the post appear to be overwhelmingly outraged or mocking.
SAG-AFTRA is currently striking against several video game publishers to push them to agree to the union’s conditions about “critical AI protections” for actors.
Narrativ’s official website encourages actors to “sell their voice” at the very top of the page. That’s certainly one way of putting it.
If you’re unfamiliar with SAG-AFTRA, it’s a union born from the marriage of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
It covers approximately “160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists, and other media professionals.”
Generative AI remains a hot-button topic among artists. Recently, we learned that a class action lawsuit filed by artists against companies developing and using Stable Diffusion (a popular generative AI “art” tech) is likely going to trial with a judge declining to dismiss copyright infringement accusations.