Meta offers huge payments to Hollywood actors for AI voices
The giant tech company Meta Platforms Inc is offering notable Hollywood actors huge payments worth millions of dollars to gain the rights to record and use their voices in a series of future artificial intelligence projects.
Judi Dench, Awkwafina, and Keegan-Michael Key are currently in discussion with Meta, although the specific people behind the deal have not been identified, and the company itself has not offered a statement on proceedings.
Meta is preparing for its Connect 2024 event in September and hopes to arrange a number of deals to finalise its next suite of AI tools. They are hoping to sign up a swathe of Hollywood stars for the project, although it’s unclear how they might hope to use their voices.
One suggestion is that a chatbot akin to Apple’s Siri could be using the voices of Key and Dench, either as a personal assistant or even just a friend. Meta has begun negotiations with several actors over the years concerning their voice rights, although the talks have always broken down due to an inability to agree on a deal.
The company hopes to secure voice rights to be used several times over a period of time, but the actors are more adamant about setting tighter limits. AI voice rights have been a hot topic in Hollywood for the last year or so and were a central part of the writers’ and actors’ strikes that took place last year.
Many figures in the film and television industry are concerned that AI technologies could soon take their jobs away. However, to prevent this, the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA reportedly acquired a protective deal with Meta and several big Hollywood studios.
Still, it appears that Meta has its sights set on acquiring the rights to a number of big Hollywood players’ voices. Nicolas Cage had recently spoken of his concerns with AI, telling The New Yorker, “They’re just going to steal my body and do whatever they want with it via digital AI. God, I hope not AI. I’m terrified of that. I’ve been very vocal about it.”
He added, “It makes me wonder, you know, where will the truth of the artists end up? Is it going to be replaced? Is it going to be transmogrified? Where’s the heartbeat going to be?” Evidently, actors are deeply concerned about what the future holds for them should companies like Meta acquire the rights to their voices and physical likenesses.
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