While there is hope that the SAG-Aftra strike will follow in the footsteps of the Writers' Strike and come to an end soon, one of the major sticking points between actors and studios is the increasing reliance on AI in film.
A major reason for both strike was actors and writers alike requesting protection from AI from studios.
Now, Zelda Williams, daughter of the late, great Robin Williams and a writer/director in her own right, has lent her voice to the actors' cause and has slammed those who have recreated her father's voice using AI.
Williams died in 2014 at the age of 63, and Zelda posted a statement in support of SAG-Aftra to her Instagram stories.
"I am not an impartial voice in SAG’s fight against AI," she wrote. "I’ve witnessed for YEARS how many people want to train these models to create/recreate actors who cannot consent, like Dad. This isn’t theoretical, it is very very real."
She continued: "I’ve already heard AI used to get his ‘voice’ to say whatever people want and while I find it personally disturbing, the ramifications go far beyond my own feelings. Living actors deserve a chance to create characters with their choices, to voice cartoons, to put their HUMAN effort and time into the pursuit of performance.
"These recreations are, at their very best, a poor facsimile of greater people, but at their worst, a horrendous Frankensteinian monster, cobbled together from the worst bits of everything this industry is, instead of what it should stand for."
