Hollywood Reporter: Tom Cruise negotiated with movie studios over AI before the actors strike began

Before talks between the Hollywood actors’ union and major film and TV studios broke down, the SAG-AFTRA union enlisted Tom …

Before talks between the Hollywood actors’ union and major film and TV studios broke down, the SAG-AFTRA union reportedly enlisted Tom Cruise to lobby on behalf of its members. Mandatory Credit: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Originally Published: 18 JUL 23 16:30 ET

Updated: 18 JUL 23 16:56 ET

By Samantha Delouya, CNN

(CNN) — Before talks between the Hollywood actors’ union and major film and TV studios broke down, the SAG-AFTRA union enlisted Tom Cruise to lobby on behalf of its members, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

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Hollywood's use of A.I. a key concern for striking actors and writers

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA's chief negotiator, tells CNN's Rosemary Church that the studios' proposal for A.I. rules exploited actors without speaking roles. Source: CNN, KABC

At issue was the use of artificial intelligence, or AI. According to the report, superstar Cruise joined a negotiating session in June to discuss concerns about the use of AI to replace actors and to speak in support of stunt performers, who are also part of SAG-AFTRA’s 160,000 members. The Mission: Impossible star famously performs his own stunts.

SAG-AFTRA did not respond to a request for comment on the report and a representative for Tom Cruise declined to comment.

On Friday, SAG-AFTRA officially joined the picket line against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), a trade union that represents Hollywood’s biggest movie studios and streaming services. Hollywood’s actors joined with the 11,000 members of the Writer’s Guild of America that have been striking against the AMPTP since early May. This is the first time both writers and actors are on strike in 63 years.

While there are a number of sticking points regarding fair pay in the negotiations between Hollywood’s actors and studios, the debate over the use of AI in television and film is arguably one of the most existential – and contentious.

In a statement to CNN, the AMPTP said it had offered actors “a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likeness.” But SAG-AFTRA has argued that studios want to use AI to eliminate acting jobs by scanning and creating digital likenesses to use in perpetuity without fair compensation.

In a press conference last week, Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, said actors would be “in trouble” if unions and studios don’t hammer out an AI policy that works for everyone.

“We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines,” she said.

Recent advancements in AI have made the concept of replacing actors with AI-generated versions a reality. Cruise himself was portrayed in a series of deepfakes created by a visual and AI effects artist on TikTok earlier this year.

However, amid the pre-strike negotiations, Cruise also urged SAG-AFTRA to allow performers to promote their projects, citing the financially precarious position of movie theaters amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

According to the union’s current strike rules, Cruise and other actors are prohibited from interviews, tours, or promotion for any projects that count the major studios as backers, meaning Cruise can no longer promote his latest film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, which was released in the US earlier this month.