The SAG-AFTRA strike has brought forth many problems amidst the regime of Hollywood. Many actors are raising their voices against the unfair practices in the Hollywood industry and one of them is an unaware use of AI among the background actors of WandaVision. Some of the background actors claimed the use of unauthorized practices of conducting a body scan on actors. For instance, one of the background actors, Rubalcaba, revealed how she and various others were summoned to a tractor trailer. They were told to stand in front of a set of cameras placed on metal rigs behind glass. They were given varied instructions, such as displaying anxiety, shock, or other emotions, while their faces and bodies were scanned for approximately 15 minutes apiece. She stated how they told them, “Have your hands out. Have your hands in. Look this way. Look that way. Let us see your scared face. Let us see your surprised face.” She also added, “What if I don’t want to be on MarioVision, or SarahVision?”
Alexandria Rubalcaba stated, “I fear that AI is eventually going to weed out background actors. They won’t have any use for us anymore.” As a background actor, Rubalcaba earns $187 each day, according to the SAG-AFTRA union.
The shocking revelation is that the actors were not informed about the use of their digital carbon copy. The absence of acquiescence made the actors enraged and on the top of that they weren’t compensated thoroughly by the authorities. The actors couldn’t report the folly because they were under the non disclosure agreement. They had to suffer in silence. The use of AI has resulted in the actors losing their gist of performance which was earlier the result of an actor’s originality. Hollywood has been known to utilize high-tech technology in the art of filmmaking, however this technology shouldn’t impinge on the talent of budding actors.
Social media users responded promptly to the news. One user commented, “So on a show about doing things to people without their consent to fulfill your own needs, Disney did stuff to people without their consent to fulfill their own needs.” Another posted, “Disney would like to remind you that reproducing any of their IP without their consent is a crime.”
Another user claimed, “That doesn’t sound legal to me. Especially if they didn’t consent.” A person shared, “And y’all thought Black Mirror was just entertainment and not actually predictive programming.” Another added, “They probably signed their entire soul away without knowing it.”One user was indignantly horrified at inequities, they replied, “That’s wild, black mirror is too accurate.”