Welcome to our latest Coffee Break in which we look at the latest legal and practical developments impacting UK employers.
AI risk to employee relations highlighted by US strikes
Media headlines last week reported on strikes in the US by performers (coupled with the existing action being taken by screenwriters) concerned over the risk to their livelihoods from artificial intelligence (AI), working conditions and poor rates of pay from streaming; the strike has reportedly shut down all Hollywood TV and film productions.
The US Screen Actors Guild is concerned by the possibility of actors being replaced by digital replicas and is seeking guarantees that AI-generated faces and voices will not be deployed. It has reportedly rejected an offer from the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers offering a proposal which would see the digital likeness of actors protected, with consent required where digital replicas are used in performances or alterations made. Under the proposals, background actors would receive one day of work in exchange for the rights to their digital likeness "for the rest of eternity with no compensation".
The action taken by workers in the US mirrors concerns more widely. In the UK, a private members' bill was recently introduced in the UK with the key aim of giving "workers the protections that they need to mitigate against the harmful applications of AI" and protecting "the fundamental importance of ensuring that AI must work in the interests...
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