‘Have we put ourselves out of business?’: Concerns in the film and TV industry over body scanning during filming | Amnesty International

For performers on television or movies, it is not unusual to receive a request to enter a booth filled with dozens of cameras ready to capture them from every possible angle. However, with cast and production crew already concerned about AI’s upcoming role in the industry, this is becoming an increasingly worrying undertaking.

“It happens without warning,” says Olivia Williams, who adds that she has been scrutinized more times than she cares to remember during a career that has stretched from The Sixth Sense to Dune: Prophecy.

“You’re on set. You’re in costume. The friendly assistant director who already knows you, who brings you tea and holds your phone while you act, says VFX. [visual effects] The team is there today – and right after the scene is done, can you go to the VFX bus? And go.

“Actors, by and large, are people pleasers. Getting into a confrontation about scanning when you’re in the middle of a scene kills your creativity, creates the fear that you’ll never work again, and that your agent will dump you. So you comply.”

Lead and supporting actors, performers and dancers have told The Guardian of similar experiences on set, where they were fed into scanners despite it being unclear what their rights were regarding the biometric data produced.

Performers were told that “if you want to be in the scene, or you want the scene to look cool with an alien crawling out of your brain,” scans are needed, Williams said.

This experience has caused unease for some time, but the development of “AI doubles” for performers and claims about the access of “AI actors” have led to clarity on exactly what happens to data collected on set.

These concerns came to light with the publicity surrounding an artificial intelligence actor named Tilly Norwood. It seems unlikely that the company behind the creation will create the first AI-powered star, but it has focused on the ongoing fight to clarify performers’ rights.

Williams decided to put her head above the parapet out of concern for young performers just starting out, as well as the existential threat facing performers, known in the industry as supporting artists (SAs), who populate the show’s crowds and backdrops.

Dave Watts, an experienced supporting cast member who has appeared in numerous superhero films and major productions, has been screened several times. There are broader implications for the industry, he said.

“I’ve actually heard crew members say, ‘To be honest, we don’t need to do this anymore,'” he said. “We can just ask the AI ​​to create a crowd of 1,000 people based on the information it has already captured.”

“If you don’t have your usual crowd of 100, 200, 500 supporting cast members on a big production, you also don’t need the assistant directors taking care of them, you don’t need the hair and makeup people. You don’t need the costume people, the costume props, all the caterers, all the drivers and set monitors. There’s a whole range of jobs out there that AI is actively compromising.”

A dancer, who spoke anonymously due to concerns that speaking out might impact her work, raised similar points about the pressure to be surveyed and the use of data. “Filming is exhausting, you wake up at three in the morning,” they said. “It’s eight o’clock now, and you’re not allowed to go home until you’ve finished. And the way it’s going, you don’t really have a choice.”

“You wonder, have we all put ourselves out of work? It makes you feel a little foolish.”

Performers face barriers due to a morass of complex and overlapping laws, said Alex Lawrence Archer, a data rights lawyer from the law firm AWO who is working with actors on the issue. He said it was important for them to have clearer agreements about the production process, rather than trying to recover their data after the fact.

“Contracts are often very poorly drafted, and the wording is often in line with industry standards that have been in place for many years,” he said. “They really weren’t designed with these kinds of technologies in mind. What you have is a kind of vacuum of uncertainty. And in that vacuum, AI developers and studios are doing their best to get away with it.”

“It’s future training situations that actors and actresses really need to turn their attention to. They need to negotiate better contracts that are clearer and truly reflect a fair agreement between actors, studios and AI developers.”

There are now signs of a budding rebellion. In one recent shoot, the performers were given advance notice of scans after concerns arose.

“The cast was collectively resisting the atmosphere of ambushes set by the actors,” said one actor, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We were successful in getting them to put some kind of addendum in our agreement, which basically prevents them from using the digital scans for anything other than display without our written consent.”

The battle for rights in the face of the AI ​​industry’s thirst for data may seem hopeless. This data can be collected from various footage and sources avoiding professional performers. However, there is consensus on trying to regain some control.

“This technology could conceivably be used in a reductive way that greatly reduces the need for human performers, or it could be used to tap into creativity and build things in a really positive way,” says Theo Morton, a professional artist and member of the British Stunt Registry. “There’s a lot of uncertainty and no one really knows. That’s why it’s so important to create contractual safeguards, to protect against this potential erosion of control that might happen.”

However, Williams is among those who despair at the loss of control already.

The big unknown is where AI models for training on data come from. This remains a closely guarded secret, but it must be revealed, Lawrence Archer said. He also warned against limiting the matter to additional compensation for performers.

“The AI ​​industry relies on large amounts of data,” he said. “Someone is collecting it. We know these questions are very sensitive for AI developers and studios. We have supported actors to make these data access requests, trying to learn more. I personally know actors who have been paid by AI companies to withdraw those requests.”

“We need to build a world where actors’ human creativity, communication, and performance continue to be valued. If we focus only on legal and compensation issues, there’s a risk that actors will end up becoming data workers, rather than the creative artists they are.”