05-05-2025
SAG-AFTRA Chief Lays Out What A.I. Protections It Will Be Looking For In Its Next Studio Contract
Artificial intelligence was a major factor in the actors strike of 2023 and the burgeoning technology will remain a key element in next year's negotiations.
SAG-AFTRA chief Duncan Crabtree-Ireland has laid out some of the guilds plans ahead of its contract with the studios expiring in June 2026.
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Speaking on a Deadline-moderated panel at SeriesFest in Denver, Crabtree-Ireland, who is National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator at SAG-AFTRA, revealed that the guild would be 'starting our preparations for negotiations this fall'.
He said that he believes that A.I. will be an important factor in these talks. 'I'd never prejudge it, because our members – we're a member driven organization – decide what our priorities are going to be. We didn't get everything that I would have wanted [in 2023], or that they would have wanted in that negotiation. This is evolving over time. In the commercial contract deal we just got, we achieved, for the first time, a contractual limitation on the use of our members' work for training A.I. systems. That's not something we have been able to achieve in any prior contract until just now,' he said.
In SAG-AFTRA's TV/Theatrical Contract, it scored protections against the studios and streamers using artificial intelligence in a way that would result in job losses or infringe on performers or as Crabtree-Ireland calls it 'consent and compensation'.
In the 2025 Commercials Contract that was just approved by SAG-AFTRA's National Board, it secured protections forcing advertisers or agencies to ask SAG-AFTRA permission before they can authorize any third parties to use such material to train an A.I. system.
'We would have liked to have had that in the TV theatrical agreement. We weren't able to achieve that despite being on strike for over four months. But I think now as this industry evolves, as the use of the technology evolves, and as our contracts evolve, we may be able to make progress in areas where everyone was just too, frankly, scared to reach agreement before, and we really want to see that. There's a lot to improve upon, even though those guardrails and guidelines have become so important, and I think have served our members very well, but we're always in the mood of improving our contracts every time,' he added.
Crabtree-Ireland was talking alongside Scott Mann, Co-CEO & Founder, Flawless and Nikola Todorovic, Co-Founder and CEO, Wonder Dynamics.
He agreed that the studios and streamers have taken a relatively cautious approach to the use of A.I. in the last 18 months. SAG-AFTRA has sat down with these companies a few times since the deal to discuss A.I., as laid out in its contract.
'It's been a much more cautious uptake than I had initially expected. I do think part of that is driven by the contractual limitations and rules that we've got. I think probably a big part of it is, during the strikes, it became really apparent that the public is also very concerned about what A.I. means, and I think these companies are thinking about what the ramifications are for their relationship with their consumers as part of rolling the stuff out and trying to avoid making missteps, which, frankly, I appreciate. Because I think if we work together on this rollout, it can be much better than it would have been in some sort of gold rush,' he added.
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