UK actors vote to refuse to be digitally scanned in pushback against AI | Television
Actors voted to reject digital scanning to prevent their likenesses from being used by AI in a backlash against AI in the arts.
Members of performing arts union Equity were asked if they could refuse to be scanned on set. This is a common practice where actors’ likenesses are captured for future use; 99% voted in favor of this move.
Paul Fleming, Equity’s general secretary, said: “Artificial intelligence is a generation-defining challenge. And for the first time in a generation, Equity’s film and TV members have shown they are willing to take industrial action.”
“Ninety percent of TV and movies are made under these agreements. More than three-quarters of the artists working on them are union members. This shows that the workforce is willing to significantly disrupt production unless they are respected and [if] “Decades of erosion in terms and conditions are beginning to reverse.”
The vote was an indicative vote designed to show the strength of feeling on the issue, with a 75% turnout from more than 7,000 members. However, if players refuse to be scanned, they will not be legally protected.
The union said it would write to Pact, the trade body that represents the majority of producers and production companies in the UK, to negotiate new minimum wage standards as well as terms and conditions for actors working in film and TV.
Equity said a formal vote could be held depending on the outcome of the negotiations, which, if supported, could give actors legal protection if they were pressured to accept digital scanning on set.
The decision comes after months of debate and growing concerns about artists’ rights as artificial intelligence enters the creative industries; high-profile actors were urging Equity members to support the effort to stop digital scanning.
Adrian Lester, Hugh Bonneville and Harriet Walter backed the union’s campaign to ensure AI protections for artists are written into union contracts.
Bonneville said actors’ likenesses and voices should not be “used for the benefit of others without license or permission,” while Lester said actors at the beginning of their careers often find it difficult to push back against body scanning.
In October, Olivia Williams told the Guardian that actors were routinely pressured to have their bodies scanned on set, with no say in how the data was later used.
The Dune star argued that actors should have control over data obtained from body scans as well as nudity scenes. Some contracts, he said, include clauses that give studios carte blanche over an artist’s likeness “on all platforms now existing or ever to be conceived in the universe.”
The arrival of the first AI “actor”, Tilly Norwood, has further increased concerns and demands for formal agreements on what is and is not allowed.
In 2023, concerns about artificial intelligence were at the heart of the Hollywood writers’ strike; writers and actors warned that uncontrolled use of technology could radically reshape the industry and undermine their role.
