Hollywood studios seek eternal rights to AI replicas of actors

Hollywood actors have officially announced a strike against studios that want to scan actors and use their digital likeness in future projects.

SAG-AFTRA actors, led by President Fran Drescher and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland held a news conference following a break down of talks between the actors and Hollywood studios.

Drescher delivered a fiery speech blasting Hollywood studios for their treatment of actors and the overall business model that she says has drastically changed with the emergence of streaming platforms and generative artificial intelligence tools.

According to Drescher, actors are being "marginalised, disrespected and dishonoured". The announcement of the strike has added to the now 160,000 SAG-AFTRA members taking to the picket line, marking the biggest shutdown of Hollywood since 1960.

For those that don't know, actors and writers alike are pushing for better terms with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which is an entity that represents major Hollywood studios such as Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros Discovery.

"What happens here is important because what's happening to us is happening across all fields of labor, when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run," she said.

"We are the victims here. We are being victimised by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us.

"I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they're losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history," said Drescher