In a Black Mirror-esque turn, some cash-strapped actors who didn’t fully understand the consequences are regretting selling their likenesses to be used in AI videos that they consider embarrassing, damaging, or harmful, AFP reported.
Among them is a 29-year-old New York-based actor, Adam Coy, who licensed rights to his face and voice to a company called MCM for one year for $1,000 without thinking, “am I crossing a line by doing this?” His partner’s mother later found videos where he appeared as a doomsayer predicting disasters, he told the AFP.
South Korean actor Simon Lee’s AI likeness was similarly used to spook naïve Internet users but in a potentially more harmful way. He told the AFP that he was “stunned” to find his AI avatar promoting “questionable health cures on TikTok and Instagram,” feeling ashamed to have his face linked to obvious scams.
As AI avatar technology improves, the temptation to license likenesses will likely grow. One of the most successful companies that’s recruiting AI avatars, UK-based Synthesia, doubled its valuation to $2.1 billion in January, CNBC reported. And just last week, Synthesia struck a $2 billion deal with Shutterstock that will make its AI avatars more human-like, The Guardian reported.
To ensure that actors are incentivized to license their likenesses, Synthesia also recently launched an equity fund. According to the company, actors behind the most popular AI avatars or featured in Synthesia marketing campaigns will be granted options in “a pool of our company shares” worth $1 million.
“These actors will be part of the program for up to four years, during which their equity awards will vest monthly,” Synthesia said.
For actors, selling their AI likeness seems quick and painless—and perhaps increasingly more lucrative. All they have to do is show up and make a bunch of different facial expressions in front of a green screen, then collect their checks. But Alyssa Malchiodi, a lawyer who has advocated on behalf of actors, told the AFP that “the clients I’ve worked with didn’t fully understand what they were agreeing to at the time,” blindly signing contracts with “clauses considered abusive,” even sometimes granting “worldwide, unlimited, irrevocable exploitation, with no right of withdrawal.”