TV and film extras are afraid generative AI will copy their faces and bodies to take their jobs
- Reference: 1691426710
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/08/07/tv_and_film_extras_are/
- Source link:
Some workers spoke to NPR this week about being subjected to the scans, and feeling like they couldn't say no. Alexandria Rubalcaba, who was working as a background actor, described being called into a trailer and asked to stand in front of cameras.
"Have your hands out. Have your hands in. Look this way. Look that way. Let us see your scared face. Let us see your surprised face," she [1]said . What was most concerning, however, was that she didn't know what or how her images were going to be used. "My first thought leaving the trailer was, 'Oh this might just be the future," Lubsey said. "We might just lose our jobs," Dom Lubsey, an actor from Los Angeles, added.
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Studios already use computational techniques to create synthetic images of people to create fake crowds for backgrounds in films.
[3]
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It's not too far-fetched to think that extras can also be generated too. Andrew Susskind, an associate professor at Drexel University's film and TV department, explained how AI-made background actors would slash production budgets.
"Imagine ballroom scenes, party scenes, any scenes that need tons of extras," Susskind said. "Imagine the amounts of money they would be saving. Not paying $180 a day. Plus meals. Plus costuming," he said.
Apple's $22.6 billion spending on research is going towards generative AI
As Big Tech goes all out in the rush to produce generative AI products, Apple is noticeably quiet. But it is working to explore and develop the technology internally, according to the company's latest Q3 earnings report [5][PDF] .
Sales fell 1.4 per cent to $81.8 billion compared to the same quarter a year ago. Meanwhile it had spent a total of $22.1 billion in research and development as of 1 July compared to the $19.5 billion spent last year.
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That increase is down to Apple working on generative AI, CEO Tim Cook [7]told Reuters. "We've been doing research across a wide range of AI technologies, including generative AI, for years. We're going to continue investing and innovating and responsibly advancing our products with these technologies to help enrich people's lives," he said. "Obviously, we're investing a lot, and it is showing up in the R&D spending that you're looking at."
Apple has reportedly built Ajax, its own internal framework to build the tools and software for large language models. The technology has been used to develop a ChatGPT-like chatbot. Cook [8]previously said there are "number of issues that need to be sorted" with the technology, and that Apple needed to be "very thoughtful" about future products.
[9]Netflix offers up to $900,000 for AI product manager while actors strike for protection
[10]Google fails to get AI engineer lawsuit claiming wrongful termination thrown out
[11]Read lips? Siri wants to feel them, according to fresh Apple patent
[12]US biz to blow $120bn on AI by 2025, says IDC
AI trading firms under scrutiny in Massachusetts
Regulators in Massachusetts have launched an inquiry investigating how AI is being used in the securities industry.
The state's Secretary of the Commonwealth, William Galvin, has sent a series of letters to registered and unregistered investment firms, including top names like JPMorgan Chase [13] and Morgan Stanley, that are known to use the technology in their businesses.
There are concerns that automated algorithms could be biased and designed to optimize profits for a company over its clients, or that its predictions could affect human decisions and lead to financial disaster, for example.
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"State securities regulators have an important role to play when it comes to AI and its impact on main street investors," he [15]said in a statement. "If deployed without the guardrails necessary to ensure proper disclosure and consideration of conflicts, I am concerned that this technology could result in harm to investors."
Kickstarter's new AI policies
Popular crowdfunding platform for creative and tech projects Kickstarter is introducing new rules for artists and developers using AI in their work.
Anyone using generative AI tools to create images, text, or code must make this clear in the description advertising their project, and explain what content is created by machines and what content is created by them.
If the project is a specific AI product or tool, developers must disclose what data they're using to train or run their software. If they don't obtain consent or credit data sources appropriate, Kickstarter won't allow the project online for crowdsourcing.
"If any use of AI is not disclosed properly during the submission process, the project may be suspended. Attempts to skirt our guidelines or intentionally misrepresent a project will result in restrictions from submitting a Kickstarter project in the future," the company [16]warned this week.
The new policies will come into effect from 29 August, and creators will be asked to give details on how AI will be used when they try to submit their projects on Kickstarter. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.npr.org/2023/08/02/1190605685/movie-extras-worry-theyll-be-replaced-by-ai-hollywood-is-already-doing-body-scan
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZNFphoo5-qOqWS2IkcUwzgAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZNFphoo5-qOqWS2IkcUwzgAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZNFphoo5-qOqWS2IkcUwzgAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/fy2023-q3/FY23_Q3_Consolidated_Financial_Statements.pdf
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZNFphoo5-qOqWS2IkcUwzgAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-profit-tops-wall-street-targets-strong-services-counter-weaker-iphone-2023-08-03/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/24/ai_in_brief/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/26/netflix_ai_manager/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/24/ai_in_brief/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/04/read_lips_siri_wants_to/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/17/idc_ai_funding/
[13] https://www.reuters.com/markets/companies/JPM.N
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZNFphoo5-qOqWS2IkcUwzgAAAAM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/news/left-story.htm
[16] https://updates.kickstarter.com/introducing-our-new-ai-policy/
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Extras but not script writers
The only writers I know have not been fans of generative AI, I will admit none are specifically scriptwriters. The text it writes tend to be without cohesive theme or nuance. I don't know why someone would rather edit a soulless husk of a bad script into something good as opposed to crafting something with actual intent behind it.
Especially because I suspect fewer people will get paid a lot less over time to do the editing than to write things. I cannot imagine the result is anywhere near as good either.
Re: Extras but not script writers
Some series and even movies seem to be assembled with the scripts' "cohesive theme or nuance" having apparently a very low priority. I would guess there is enough of an audience market for low budget "entertainment" containing sufficient graphic violence (no limit) and sex appeal (up to legal limit) to make bland and pointless AI generated scripts an acceptable economy.
Re: Extras but not script writers
"The text it writes tend to be without cohesive theme or nuance. "
You've just described Fast and Furious 5+
FAMILY!
"One is a minor actor and film extra. He is very worried about his likeness having been taken and how it will be used without his permission as a generated extra in future films. He does not like AI."
I just bet he doesn't, and I can see why. But there are probably millions of non-actory people who would happily pose for scans for a one time fee. I'm afraid that ship has already sailed, or at least is in the process of doing so.
"Another friend is a script writer. He likes AI, it can do a lot of work in generating a script ... but that script is not good enough to use and this is where he comes in - tweak/improve it to be something great."
This guy gets it. The generative genie is not going back in the bottle - it's just too useful. The only thing to do is adapt - make the things do something useful for you, use them to your advantage.
Surely if you are an extra you sign some sort of release form when you take part in work for a production company? So that should explain what they are intending to do with those scans.
But If you are just blinding signing contracts without knowing what your signing then you have much bigger issues and REALLY need to get a lawyer to look over any paperwork before you sign it from now on.
Unfortunately whether we like it or not I think the future of extra work is probably not a rosy one. It won't be long before if a studio is looking to cast someone of a particular age, skin colour, height etc it will be easier and cheaper to call on an AI which will just be able to generate their extra and they don't need to pay for all the other costs that come with hiring flesh and blood people.
The website this-person-does-not-exist.com has been around since 2020 and is able to create realistic looking unique faces of people who don't exist in the real world. And with the advances in AI in the last 3 years im sure its not too far away that fully AI generated realistic looking extras will be possible without anyone's likeness even needed to be scanned.
But look its not just extras who will be out of a job due to AI and automation, there is going to be a lot of industries where the deployment of AI is going to cause certain jobs to disappear.
New technologies come along and disrupt the status quo all the time, leading job losses or even entire industries disappearing in a short space of time. I used to have a part time job when at college back in the 90s working a video rental store, and even a small town could support several of those shops back then, and now i don't even think there are any still remaining near me.
I am sure the lamp lighters, switch board operators, chimney sweeps, telegram messengers etc all felt pissed when technology eventually meant their jobs became redundant.
If you are just blinding signing contracts without knowing what your signing then you have much bigger issues and REALLY need to get a lawyer to look over any paperwork before you sign it from now on.
It's Hobson's Choice really. Contracts will usually be overly permissive to start with and if you don't like the contract; "You can fuck off, darling. Next", and there are plenty of others willing to step forward and sell their souls to the studios and production companies,
How soon until being an extra becomes a thing of the past is hard to tell. When you need a Ben Hur quantity, perhaps, but for most productions it's probably going to be cheaper and easier to employ live-action extras, then faff about with CGI and all that's involved, for a while yet.
I am not cold-hearted enough to have no sympathy but it's a fact of life that some jobs do disappear over time. Change usually means losers as well as winners.
I am now too old to be worried about what may or may not happen should AI take off
however, I am also a parent, and my children will have to live with the aftermath of the decisions being taken, and in that, I HOPE that those involved are using a healthy dose of common sense, and keeping their feet on the ground, and heads out of the clouds :o)
so I took a look back at how other 'advances' were met and how we determined what was to be THE way ....................
profit wins, we are SO screwed :o(
Who the heck needs AI? My friend from darkest Peru had a movie made about his life and that got me eating marmalade everyday since then for the Vitamins and Minerals ... the film makers did a fantastic job manually by themselves with no AI at all after the BBC did a fun series of cartoons. In both cases this was people reading their original books and making movies that were wonderfully entertaining and tremendously visually accurate.
AI might do a visual replacement based on the original films, but if AI had just "read" a book would we be seeing a Kodiak Brown Bear (ten feet tall) walking around the station, not Paddington? The icon applies if you never saw the original movie - LOL.
Extras but not script writers
I live near the Warner Bros studios in Watford (known for Harry Potter). I have friends who work there.
One is a minor actor and film extra. He is very worried about his likeness having been taken and how it will be used without his permission as a generated extra in future films. He does not like AI.
Another friend is a script writer. He likes AI, it can do a lot of work in generating a script ... but that script is not good enough to use and this is where he comes in - tweak/improve it to be something great. He likes AI - as long as it will not improve enough to replace him completely before he retires.