Everybody’s talking about AI right now, but in truth it’s not that new. Anyone who’s ever used the spot removal tool or clone stamp in Photoshop over the last 30 years or so has allowed an algorithm to perform an editing task for them. But as this technology gathers pace and looks set to revolutionise many industries, including the arts, what does it mean for actors and for headshots?
Here are three key points actors, and everyone else, should consider before jumping into the world of AI.
DON'T GIVE YOURSELF AWAY
AI has scraped the internet, training itself on every available written word and image created by humanity to date then re-purposes them to create new content when prompted. This has happened with virtually no consideration of copyright or ownership. Creatives in every corner of the arts – including high profile actors - have found their work freely plagiarised by AI. In some instances, AI has already replaced creatives on paying jobs, generating work in their style without them.
So why would you freely surrender your voice and your likeness to an AI? As an actor how you look and sound are literally your unique selling points - no-one else on Earth has your attributes. But submit them to an AI tool - even for fun to see how you look as a Disney princess or a superhero - and you are potentially losing control and giving away the most important assets you have. And once they’re gone it’s near impossible to take back control and protect your income. You may think that your likeness has been absorbed by an AI already, and that’s very possible. But the difference is that you haven’t given consent and your rights of ownership over your likeness are intact. From uploading to apps and signing contracts, if your face and voice are being recorded in any way you should always ensure that you retain ownership of your likeness. Be sure to read terms and conditions, check contracts and always protect your rights.
AUTHENTICALLY YOU
You’ve probably seen tools that will generate headshots for you – (once you’ve uploaded your likeness of course, so read those T&Cs) - across a range of looks. It’s as simple as prompting the AI to produce images of you in any role you can think of from business leader to a teacher or nurse.
As the technology currently stands these images have an obvious AI look to them that casting directors will spot a mile off. But as the technology matures and the images become more convincing the issue of authenticity will be crucially important. In an AI world where truth and reality will become harder and harder to identify the focus will move more and more toward authentic headshots and lived in moments. Headshots that casting directors feel 100% confident look just like the person who will submit a self-tape or step into the room. A good headshot photographer can capture a fantastic range of images, expressions and looks across a wide selection of images in one session - so you have a fantastic choice of images that are true to you and no-one else in every nuance and detail. At the end of the day, you’re a performer. Why would you want a machine to impersonate you and take that away? Do you want to create your headshots, your self-tapes and reels performing in the moment, or do you want an AI to do all that for you? And would anyone think it was genuine if you did?
IT'S OUR CHOICE
Collectively we need to decide as a society how we want to live. The meme ‘I want AI to do my dishes so I can create my art’ really does say a lot about the choices we face. Do we want to handover the most rewarding and enriching part of our lives from photography to theatre and film and everything in between? Do we want to get together, real people in a shared space exchanging creative energy, or do we want to give that all away to machines and corporations? What brings us joy? It really is our choice to make but we need to choose right now.
The environmental cost of AI also needs to be considered. Generating just one AI image uses the same amount of energy needed to fully charge your smartphone. Every hundred words generated with Chat GPT guzzles through 510 millilitres of water – one full bottle. The natural resources required to power AI are considerable and will reshape both the the way resources and energy are generated and their availability to all of us, with people potentially losing out to data centres. There are enormous benefits, and risks, to developing next level AI, but do we really want to burn through so much of the world’s resources and fuel the climate crisis with tasks that we enjoy and can currently perform better ourselves?
Modern AI is without doubt a powerful and exciting tool, but actors should be very aware of the risk to their careers by unintentionally giving away their likeness and their voice. The importance of verifiable authenticity and genuine moments will become more important than ever. There are decisions to be made about how we wish to live our lives as artists and just how much of the creative joy in our lives – and that we bring to the lives of others - we wish to surrender to algorithms. And finally, on a warming world with finite resources, should we prioritise one another or machines?
SOME USEFUL LINKS AND REFERENCES
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/ai-technology-threatens-actors-control-over-own-likeness
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66200334
https://screenrant.com/is-reface-app-safe-use-privacy-concerns/
