Netflix offers up to $900,000 for AI product manager while actors strike for protection
- Reference: 1690391294
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/07/26/netflix_ai_manager/
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There are a couple of reasons why TV and film creatives are kicking up a stink right now. Writers have been staging protests since May over poor pay and a fear of AI tech being used to make them obsolete. Then the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) joined the strike this month, the first time in 60 years both actors and writers have taken action this way.
SAG-AFTRA says that 87 percent of its membership, the actors you never hear about, earn less than $26,000 a year, and streaming services like Prime, Netflix, Disney etc. get away with paying much less in "residuals" – royalties earned from repeat broadcasts of films or TV shows.
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But there's another issue concerning the industry, and that's the "groundbreaking AI proposal" from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents major studios and streamers, including Netflix.
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That proposal is to protect "performers' digital likenesses, including a requirement for performer's consent for the creation and use of digital replicas or for digital alterations of a performance." This was offered as an olive branch to actors worried about the potential for AI to essentially steal their likenesses – ironically something that happens to Salma Hayek in the [4]Black Mirror episode "Joan is Awful" , where a spoof of Netflix casts her as the eponymous character in a show based on the "real" Joan's life, much to their horror (both inadvertently allowed it to happen because they didn't read the streamer's Ts&Cs).
Not only is the proposal somewhat indicative that this is something Hollywood money men have considered doing as AI develops at breakneck speed (Charlie Brooker really has to stop giving the rich and powerful terrible ideas), but it has some basis in reality too.
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James Earl Jones, who voiced Darth Vader, has basically signed off on [6]having his voice recreated by AI so Lucasfilm and Disney can keep flogging his Star Wars character even at the age of 91 and long after he has shuffled off this mortal coil.
Likewise, AI has been used to produce really quite convincing younger versions of actors – Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian and Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones in the franchise's latest (and hopefully last) outing. Once a production company has that likeness and animation data, who's to really stop them making a film "starring" any one of these people, with or without consent? Even extras could be written out of existence this way.
Producers allegedly sought rights to replicate extras using AI, forever, for just $200 [7]READ MORE
In another move widely slated by the square-eyed crowd, Secret Invasion , a new Marvel property showing on Disney+, boasts an intro sequence generated by AI. Artists fumed that it was ripping off others' work and depriving professionals of income, but the shape-shifting animation style typical to wonky AI effects was said to fit the identity of the show, which is about aliens that can take other forms to hide among Earth's populace.
How very convenient.
Method Studios, which created the sequence, [8]insisted that "no artists' jobs were replaced by incorporating these new tools" and that they were seeking an "otherworldly and alien look" achieved through a "custom AI tool."
[9]Clients turn to Indian IT outsourcers for AI faster than industry can train staff
[10]OpenAI pulls AI text detector due to it being a bit crap
[11]Google fails to get AI engineer lawsuit claiming wrongful termination thrown out
[12]Workday wants racially biased recruitment algorithm claims thrown out
Still, it could be argued that the show, which came out in June, is a little tone deaf with its timing to start rolling out wholesale AI-generated segments when this is exactly the kind of stuff writers and actors are [13]complaining about. Also, a lot of people just hated the fact that AI was involved at all.
But it's nothing next to Streamberry Netflix waving six figures about for someone to guide its AI strategy.
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The [15]job listing is vague and open to interpretation. It seeks someone with "a technical background in engineering and/or machine learning" – Netflix is not explicitly saying "we want someone to help us produce AI-generated films and TV shows without the need for treacherous actors and writers who are brazen enough to require food and shelter."
After all, in this era of generative AI hype, it seems many have forgotten that machine learning is a legit and old technology that helps these services build the recommendation algorithms that we supposedly rely on to decide what we'll watch on a given night.
And with places like OpenAI offering similar amounts of money for machine-learning scientists and engineers, Netflix has put together significant compensation packages to compete.
But the 'flix ad does say: "Artificial Intelligence is powering innovation in all areas of the business. From helping us buy and create great content [our emphasis], helping members choose the right title for them through personalization, to optimizing our payment processing and other revenue-focused initiatives."
Thus, a seed has been planted. Rob Delaney, who starred in "Joan is Awful," told [16]The Intercept : "So $900k/yr per soldier in their godless AI army when that amount of earnings could qualify thirty-five actors and their families for SAG-AFTRA health insurance is just ghoulish. Having been poor and rich in this business, I can assure you there's enough money to go around; it's just about priorities."
But studios would be wise to reel in their expectations. This AI-generated South Park episode, while it nearly passes visually, [17]just isn't right . ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZMGXhNXOQsGAXAW7ZGUKiQAAAQA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZMGXhNXOQsGAXAW7ZGUKiQAAAQA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/26/joan_black_mirror_terms/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZMGXhNXOQsGAXAW7ZGUKiQAAAQA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/26/darth_vader_voiced_by_ai/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/14/actors_strike_gen_ai/
[8] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/secret-invasion-ai-opening-1235521299/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/26/india_outsourcing_ai/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/26/openai_ai_classifier/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/24/ai_in_brief/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/21/workday_recruitment_lawsuit/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/14/actors_strike_gen_ai/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZMGXhNXOQsGAXAW7ZGUKiQAAAQA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://jobs.netflix.com/jobs/278437235
[16] https://theintercept.com/2023/07/25/strike-hollywood-ai-disney-netflix/
[17] https://vimeo.com/830748401
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I think that there are a few different issues rolled into this debate, some of which I have sympathy for, some I don't.
The main two points, IIUC as they relate to AI:
1) Actors having their likeness ripped off. This is a very real threat. I think some hard industry rules maybe backed by specific legislation is required in this realm. There are all sorts of problems with passing off. Actors reputations could be destroyed by their likeness being used to represent something general viewed as reprehensible. This is clearly going to be a huge problem.
2) Actors losing work. This is inevitable. Get used to it. Like the industrialisation of cloth production, lots of jobs are going to disappear, particularly when advanced AI is behind a live action holographic figure playing out novel scenarios akin to what we saw in Star Trek holo-novels and elsewhere is sci-fi. It might even be the next big thing in Hollywood if they can figure out a way for everyone to not have to wear those God-awful goggles.
I act, therefore I am ... a waiter
> the actors you never hear about, earn less than $26,000 a year
And as such, those people might identify as "actors" because that sounds sexy and artistic 'n' all. But it wont be the job they do that pays the rent, buys their food or keeps the lights on.
At best it will be a gig they called in for a few times a year. After several (dozen) try-outs which result in "we'll call you"
Hmmm. I can understand the actors' concerns, and even sympathize with them, but what is to stop the studios creating entirely new faces / bodies to use as extras, or even main cast?
The technology isn't there yet, but you can bet that it will be, eventually. At that point, all those pesky organic extras who are causing disruption now are going to be "resting" permanently. This may not be a good time to annoy their employers!
As for complaining about the salary, well, it all about supply and demand, isn't it? There seem to be quite a few bit part actors - enough to keep the pay low. Apparently not so many folks with the technical skills required for the job, hence high pay. If you don't like the pay that other people get, perhaps a re-evaluation of your career choices might be in order?
" what is to stop the studios creating entirely new faces "
Recognition.
If you can fling a fake Tom Cruise off a building where he falls and meets-cute David Duchovny, well, look, two well known actors. Essentially for free as they're not real. Plus, look, they're making out. There's the meme and the advertising opportunities right there.
On the other hand, Joe Random falling off a building into the arms of Guy Whatever? Meh, who cares.
I'm gonna say it...
When you consider the utter shite that passes for television now, those writers "earning" $26k are frankly overpaid.
Re: I'm gonna say it...
Writers can only produce what the studios demands.
They are not in control.
35 people?
In what location would $900k pay for 35 humans and give health care to their families? Certainly not San Jose, where Netflix is homed, nor Hollywood or New York where many of the filming giants are located.
Next cheap labour market?
> …. aliens that can take other forms to hide among Earth's populace.
When conglomerates have finished plundering countries for cheap labour, clearly aliens are the next on their hit list.
A what?
Will they work with the social media staff and synergize new solutions by leveraging existing content and creating new paradigms to enhance audience experience and providing more value to stakeholders?
advertising for an AI product manager with a salary up to $900,000
Clearly, at that salary they're looking for someone who can tell them how to use AI to generate good scripts and acting performances. As there is currently nothing available that can actually do that, it's inevitable that the job will go to the interviewee who gives the most convincing performance, persuading them that something that isn't real actually exists.
In other words, all you low paid actors, here's a chance to get paid big time if you prepare for the role well enough.
Re: advertising for an AI product manager with a salary up to $900,000
I'm sure pretty soon there will be an AI agent for that too.
Softly, Softly, Catchee Monkey and Donkeys and Charlie's just Telling IT like IT is
(Charlie Brooker really has to stop giving the rich and powerful terrible ideas)
:-) Is there any other better way to defeat them ..... for you know they cannot help themselves whenever they have nothing brilliant to offer?