Hasbro står bag en lang række massive animationsfranchises, deriblandt det verdensomspændende fænomen Peppa Pig (Gurli Gris) herhjemme. Disse franchises bliver bragt til live af stemmeskuespillere af den helt unge slags, men disse skuespillere fik for nylig opdaterede kontraktudspil fra Hasbro, der mildest talt har skabt røre.
Deadline kan rapportere at disse opdaterede udspil indeholder klausuler der tvinger skuespillerne til at fraskrive sig deres egne rettigheder til deres stemmer, så de kan bruges til AI-replikering efter indspilningerne.
Det er blevet bekræftet i en åbent brev fra Agents of Young Performers Association, der slår fast at dette ikke vil blive tolereret:
"A major studio who owns the IP for an international children's franchise producing a long-running animated television series has offered contracts to child voice actors insisting that they agree to the use of AI thus allowing them to use the child's voice in all commercial assets within their franchise. The refusal to remove this clause with an attitude of 'take it or leave it' has led us write this letter to make it clear that this will not be accepted and to bring this matter to the attention of the wider industry."
Det er ikke første gang at AI-brug indgår i en skuespillerkontrakt, men det er første gang at det omhandler børn:
"Any agreement involving a child's voice should be fully exempt from all AI usage. No child should have their future professional identity shaped by an AI model created before they were old enough to understand its consequences. Their voice should not become a permanent commercial asset before they have the legal and personal capacity to decide for themselves," skriver organisationen bag det åbne brev.
Hasbro har kommenteret på sagen, men vil ikke rigtig gå i detaljer:
"The protection of child performers is core to who Hasbro is, it's part of our DNA. As industry standards around AI continue to evolve, we are committed to engaging with this issue in a responsible and transparent manner."