As AI creators continue to press Hollywood to embrace its disruptive technological charms, leading talent agency CAA has gone on the record with a fairly stern rebuke of OpenAI and its potential to lift content without compensating artists.
It adds to the skepticism of labor guilds and media companies in calling for guard rails to protect content and its creators. This has been in the air since Scarlett Johansson found an uncanny likeness to her voice by the OpenAI assistant Sky, after she declined to be part of that job.
More recently, Particle6 Productions founder, the Dutch-British actress Eline Van der Velden, discussed at the Film Finance Forum at Zurich an imminent agency signing of her nonhuman “acting” avatar, Tilly Norwood. It seems highly doubtful any agency of significance would sign AI talent, because they might well see their clients use their human legs to walk.
CAA added to the ongoing argument tonight:
“CAA is unwavering in our commitment to protect our clients and the integrity of their creations. The misuse of new technologies carries consequences that reach far beyond entertainment and media, posing serious and harmful risks to individuals, businesses, and societies globally. It is clear that OpenAI/Sora exposes our clients and their intellectual property to significant risk. The question is, does OpenAI and its partner companies believe that humans, writers, artists, actors, directors, producers, musicians, and athletes deserve to be compensated and credited for the work they create? Or does OpenAI believe they can just steal it, disregarding global copyright principles and blatantly dismissing creators’ rights, as well as the many people and companies who fund the production, creation, and publication of these humans’ work? In our opinion, the answer to this question is obvious. Control, permission for use, and compensation is a fundamental right of these workers. Anything less than the protection of creators and their rights is unacceptable. We are open to hearing the solutions that OpenAI has to these critical issues and remain steadfast in our work with intellectual property businesses and leaders, and creative guilds and unions, as well as state and federal legislators and global policymakers, to answer these challenges and set an aligned path for the future.”
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