As of Midnight yesterday, the months long SAG-AFTRA strike ended.

Wrapping up shortly after a similar winning end for the WGA strike, folks in the industry, along with movie and television fans like myself are very excited to see production moving forward again (and hopefully in a more equitable way).

But among all the excitement and joy online, I noticed a pretty deafening silence on how the whole A.I. likeness battle ended.

The last I had heard from the negotiations (via The Hollywood Reporter) was…

The language currently in the AMPTP’s offer would see the studios and streamers secure the right to use scans of deceased performers without the consent of their estate or SAG-AFTRA.

And suffice to say, that’s pretty goddamned awful.

This evening though, there’s a new piece up on Rolling Stone addressing how this key element worked out:

According to the deal, companies must request consent before making digital replicas of actors and must disclose what the replica will be used for. Actors will also receive compensation for the digital replicas.

There are also guidelines around synthetic fakes, or fake performers who are based on the image and likeness of an actor, which is used to train generative AI.

A pretty key win in what is just an opening battle for creatives versus A.I. generated content. Once again, we find ourselves in uncharted territory with technology, consent and how to make it all work in the society we’ve built.

Thankfully, we’re starting to work that out, and in a way that favors the talent, not the businesses.