Performing arts union Equity is launching a campaign around performers’ rights over artificial intelligence (AI).
They hope to persuade the U.K. government to introduce laws that will prevent companies using AI performance synthetisation – based on real performers’ voices and likeness – without their permission.
As the U.K. law currently stands, performers’ rights extend to being able to give consent to the making of a recording of a performance and the right to control use of the recordings and any copies.
However, AI technology falls outside the scope of these protections because it “reproduces performances without generating a ‘recording’ or a ‘copy,’” according to the union. In addition, in a survey of 430 Equity members, 79% of those who have undertaken AI work said they didn’t feel they had a “full understanding” of their rights before signing their contracts.
Meanwhile 93% of audio artists responding to the survey said they were worried AI posed a threat to employment opportunities. According to Equity, AI is increasingly being used in the audio and audio-visual sector, from audiobooks to digital avatars.
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