DGA Proposed Contract Does Not Meaningfully Protect Against AI

and that’s bad for all members of the DGA and beyond

This proposed contract (PDF link) does not protect the Directors Guild of America (DGA) at all from artificial intelligence (AI). Especially below-the-line members are not protected. No machine will do a human DGA member’s work better, but many are already trying to replace DGA members with AI anyway. And this proposed contract does not try to stop it.

A corporation is a person in the United States. WeDoAI, inc. could be a person. And it can likely do any work anyone wants without breaking this proposed contract. That’s just one extreme way the proposed contract has no effective safeguards.

The direct threat of an artificial intelligence (AI) being used to try to do the work of Assistant Directors (ADs) and Unit Production Managers (UPMs) is bad enough, which this does nothing to protect against.

The indirect threat is that sets and cast become virtual, so there’s no physical set to report to; this proposed contract does nothing to protect against it.

Two meetings a year and being asked “hey, you know we’re gonna use AI, right?” isn’t a meaningful framework for AI.

Without a meaningful framework for artificial intelligence (AI), DGA, both above-the-line but especially below-the-line, remain unprotected.

Any proposed contract without meaningful AI framework is a contract under which it’ll be very hard to have a career.

A multi-talented team at Netflix has already developed complex systems to parse apart the work of film and TV makers.

Yet the DGA’s proposed contract has only a few sentences that suggest merely meeting with and telling people they’re using AI, that’s all. Not a framework. How do a few loophole filled sentences provide protection against something the creators of AI think might lead to extinction? They don’t.

This video from Netflix is an example of how the tech of AI is already impacting the work of those who make TV and film:

Netflix Research: Machine Learning Platform

As shown at 1 minute in this video: “Some really exciting and novel areas are leveraging it [machine learning/AI] for optimizing the production of our originals.”

And that means the work that actors, writers, directors, crew and more do to make film and TV has already been part of the development of machining learning and AI at Netflix. “optimizing the production of our originals” means changing the work of everyone who makes television and film, including ADs and UPMs.

And that was 4 years ago, more has been done since. Everyone needs meaningful frameworks around AI, yet the proposed DGA contract does not have a meaningful framework. The DGA can, if the members choose, to pursue a contract with protections for working with technologies like AI.

I’m not sure if the actual language needed makes sense to put in this article. It needs to be more than a few paragraphs, needs to be the sort of language that covers what the Harvard Business Review does in Managing the Risks of Generative AI at a minimum; that should be the floor of what any of anyone would accept.

Also, the Human Artistry Campaign has drawn up some guidelines for what Generative AI might be like. The DGA and AMPTP don’t have to start from scratch and build a meaningful framework all by their lonesome.

Would it be useful for me to draw up specifics? Please let me know in the comments or on my online profiles.

More on why everyone needs a meaningful framework around AI is in my article AI Risks Are Catastrophic for Producers Without Clear Guidelines on the Use of Actor Likenesses and Voices: https://bit.ly/AIrisks

© Copyright June 9, 2023, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon. He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

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