Justine Bateman. actress, SAG/WGA/DGA and coder on the misuse of AI in Hollywood

[Dennis Donovan]

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1657476895972413440.html

Justine Bateman
@JustineBateman

May 13 • 14 tweets • 3 min read

SAG ACTORS:
I want to talk about AI and how it will affect you.
I’m a former SAG Board Member and former SAG Negotiating Committee member.
I’m also WGA and DGA. 1/

As a coder and someone with a computer science degree I want to tell you where I believe AI is going. 2/

1. AI-written scrips & digitally-scanned actors (image and/or voice). Both already exist. Some talent agencies are actively recruiting their clients to be scanned. You choose the projects and get 75 cents on the dollar. 3/

Your digital image can be triple and quadruple booked, so that bodes well for a 10 percenter. 4/

2. Films customized for a viewer, based on their viewing history, which has been collected for many years. Actors will have the option to have their image “bought out” to be used in anything at all. 5/

3. Films “ordered up“ by the viewer. For example, “I want a film about a panda and a unicorn who save the world in a rocket ship. And put Bill Murray in it.” 6/

4. Viewers getting digitally scanned themselves, and paying extra to have themselves inserted in these custom films. 7/

5. Licensing deals made with studios so that viewers can order up older films like STAR WARS and put their face on Luke Skywalker‘s body and their ex-wife‘s face on Darth Vader‘s body, etc. 8/

6. Training an AI program on an older hits TV series, and creating an additional season. FAMILY TIES, for example, has 167 episodes. An AI program could easily be trained on this, and create an eighth season. We only shot seven. 9/

AI has to be addresses now or never. I believe this is the last time any labor action will be effective in our business. If we don’t make strong rules now, they simply won’t notice if we strike in three years, because at that point they won’t need us. 10/end

Addendum: Actors, you must have iron-clad protection against the AI use of your image and voice in the SAG MBA or your profession is finished. Demand it from @sagaftra and do not accept any AMPTP proposal that does not have it.

Needless to say, no @IATSE crew members, no @Teamster drivers, and no #DGA directors will be needed. At first these efforts will be run by software project managers, and eventually even they won’t be needed.

Here are some visual aids (and they are probably outdated):

Link to tweet

Chilling.

[Grokenstein]

1. Changing movies based on test audience reactions was a horrible idea; this is worse

I think the phrase "mental masturbation" applies here.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. Then ChatGPT read Dionnet and Bilal's "Exterminator 17"...

…and it was game over, man.

[Jakes Progress]

3. Every actor should be supporting the writer's strike by refusing work.

Tha is how solidarity works.

[highplainsdem]

7. They have their own negotiations coming up soon:

https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-and-amptp-start-contract-negotiations-june-7-2023

[Jakes Progress]

10. That is why they should be in solidarity with the writers.

The cinematographers, the gaffers, the lighting people, make-up artists, caterers, CGI techs.

If one strikes, the others strike. It is the only way to make a strike work quickly. Solidarity.

Otherwise the owners just play one group against another. reagan's gutting of the air controllers union wouldn't have worked if the pilots, ground crews, and flight attendants had shown solidarity.

[Roy Rolling]

13. They are

At least every SAG actor.

[Jakes Progress]

21. No. They are not. SAG officially advises actors to continue to work.

It seems convoluted because they have "no strike" clauses in their agreements. But the teamsters and IATSE tell members that they can follow their conscience in the matter. "No Strike" clauses are bullshit that means unions give up their only real power for a short term gain. When SAG caved in negotiations and agreed to "no strike" agreements, they put every socially aware actor at risk of arrest if they refuse to cross picket lines. SAG does offer "strong support" for the writers. You know - sort of like republican thoughts and prayers.

Read: [link:https://deadline.com/2023/04/sag-aftra-advises-members-continue-to-work-wga-strike-1235351492/|

It's the old issue of workers not wanting to risk their money to support other workers. It's how the "bosses" always win. Divide and conquer.

[tinrobot]

4. You can already replace someone's face in popular movies

One example:

[highplainsdem]

8. That's disgusting. Not amusing.

[tinrobot]

14. Where did I say it was amusing?

[highplainsdem]

15. Sorry. I thought you'd meant it that way, since most people who

post that sort of thing do.

And I am disgusted by how many people want to use performers' images and voices as AI playthings. And then there are the people who want to use those AI monstrosities to make money.

[paleotn]

5. Time for a Butlerian Jihad possibly.

[highplainsdem]

6. Thank you for posting this thread! I saw the first

tweet earlier because it had been quote-tweeted by software engineer Grady Booch, a Twitter favorite of mine whose tweets I've sometimes posted. But I didn't have time to read her thread then, and forgot to bookmark it.

Voice actors are already being pressured to sign away too many rights, and I've posted about that in other threads, and bookmarked another article earlier today that I should post.

Link to tweet

[cstanleytech]

9. Some of the things she mentions though I suspect are not going to happen anytime soon

such as realistic looking customized movies.
Eventually they probably will happen of course but the tech is probably atleast 20 years away at a minimum.

[chowmama]

11. Live theater

Find a live theater near you and go there. They can't AI it, and each performance is an individual moment in time, never to be repeated, for good or ill. Even the ill can be memorable.

No one supports this anymore, except for a few special places. I'll admit, I live in one of those places (Twin Cities, Minnesota). Theater is
the last bastion of reality in performance and when it finally dies, it'll be like losing another language. We've lost too many already and there's a limit to what we can stand to lose.

It's been threatened for a long time. I was criticizing a TV performance of a show, where the cast was obviously lip-syncing. My youngest sister informed me in all seriousness that 'Nobody can sing and dance at the same time". I beg your pardon - what have I been doing for years of college and beyond? I never made a living at it (unless room, board and a few bucks beer money per week count), but by God, I can do it. And there was the summer stock company where a family pulled up in the afternoon for tickets and finding out it was live theater, took their money back and asked "Where's the nearest real theater?".

When I finally retire from the animal hospital, theater is one of the things I may decide to do with my time. If it's still around. Damned if I'll sit on my ass and watch TV.

[Ms. Toad]

20. That's what I'm doing now -

I retired last April and I'm currently in my second performance since high school. Our last two shows are next weekend. We sold out all 6 performances of Scrooge in December, and next Saturday's performance of the curent musical is sold out. (And yes, we sing and dance at the same time.)

Community theater is very very vibrant where I live.

[Kablooie]

12. I've been fooling around with AI imaging to see what it's all about and I believe she's correct.

It's currently limited because it's in it's infancy but the quality of image it creates in just a few seconds can be breathtaking.
There are many versions of the technology and some are free and open source. It's also being improved constantly by both commercial companies and myriads of hacking fans.

Originally it took thousands of images of a person to create a successful computer version of them. Now you can create convincing simulation with only 20 or 30 images.

It won't be long before it will be able to produce commercial quality movies with only a very few people controlling it instead of a huge cast and crew. I don't know exactly how it will change the industry but it's going to be a major earthquake.

[JHB]

16. There's plenty of precedent for this. (actors protecting themselves)

I know that the in the original Star Trek, the actors' contracts didn't account for syndicated re-runs, which is where the series' popularity really took off. For quite a few years, 24/7, Star Trek was airing somewhere in the world, and the actors didn't see a dime from it. That was a major negotiating point when the movies started up.

Same situation probably affected plenty of actors in shows prior to the 70s, when syndication began to flourish.

[JI7]

17. None of that sounds appealing to me in any way

but I know there are many others who will like it.

[pansypoo53219]

18. finally a version of tolkien i would watch.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

22. the AI created people always do that weird little head movement.

[highplainsdem]

23. KTLA news story and interview, video and text:

https://ktla.com/entertainment/justine-bateman-rings-the-warning-bell-on-ai-use-in-hollywood/