In his capacity as a Columnist for California Sports Lawyer®, Founder and Managing Attorney Jeremy Evans has written a column about the regulation and use of computer-generated imagery and generative artificial intelligence in Hollywood filmmaking.
You can read the full column below.
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Artificial intelligence (“AI”) in entertainment has been a point of discussion and negotiation since its introduction. The launch of ChatGPT helped push AI to the top of the agenda because the world was finally able to see its capabilities through broad public use. Generative AI will seemingly only continue to grow in knowledge and influence with time and application, subject to regulation.
Computer-generated imagery (“CGI”) has been used for many years in film and television series similar to the development of video games and graphics. CGI creates special effects using computer software. The result is that stunts in action films or actors that need to age or decrease in age can do so either without makeup or physical performance. The technology has only increased in expertise and real-life appearance since its inception.
There was even a discussion for some time about the use of deceased actors CGI-created appearances being placed in films and series. The difference today is that CGI can be combined with generative AI to truly create a character that looks and acts just like a decreased actor. The same combined technology could also employ an actor’s image or avatar to act if unavailable or if a certain shot needed to be retaken by a filmmaker.
California Assembly Bill 2602, “Contracts against public policy: personal or professional services: digital replicas”, passed by the California State Senate in late August 2024, would regulate generative AI as a service in Hollywood. The legislation if passed by the Assembly and signed by the Governor will require that the estates of the decreased approve use of the “avatar” of the decreased actor. The estate approval requirement is based on the idea that although copyright has a limitation in number of years before it enters into the public domain, a person’s name, image, and likeness ("NIL") should be protected well-beyond death in perpetuity where the specific use of the NIL/avatar is a replica not a recreation of some other work. Such use also raises questions of copyright, privacy, and contract law.
The ability to create replicas raises issues of truth in advertising and deepfakes. It is also a basic decency question related to allowing those who have left this life to rest in peace. As it has been said before, the beauty of life is not that it lasts forever, but that time is finite and therefore matters what we do with it prior to passing.
The use of generative AI and CGI creates a whole new digital world that is yet to be formed. It is a copy of the created, or a replica, or something new or revisional. The idea is equally explorative and potentially deceptive, particularly without regulation and protection. Imagine for example, the estate making decisions for the deceased where the deceased has no say in the decision-making to recreation. It is a morally difficult question to address and answer. The California Legislature did the expedient thing, with SAG-AFTRA’s endorsement, to protect deceased talent though family with the estate making the decisions. Without the regulation, an open market would ensue. A complete ban would limit intellectual property exploration and creating a living memory. While an approval-based system through the closest living mechanism, an estate, might be the compromise.
The issue going forward remains, what happens as the family estate or estate plan moves to very distant relatives or even the state. If digital replicas of Jesus, Julius Caesar, Abraham Lincoln, or Amelia Earhart, were around, for example, it is likely they would be staring in a film near you soon. There is also the question of labor and reserving employment for the living as opposed to digital, whether for convenience or accuracy, or both. The road ahead is indeed bright and stormy.
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About Jeremy M. Evans:
Jeremy M. Evans is the Chief Entrepreneur Officer, Founder & Managing Attorney at California Sports Lawyer®, representing entertainment, media, and sports clients in contractual, intellectual property, and dealmaking matters. Evans is an award-winning attorney and industry leader based in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California. He can be reached at Jeremy@CSLlegal.com. www.CSLlegal.com.
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