SAG-AFTRA Doesn't Like Deepfake Porn Either—And Said So

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—Since roughly the beginning of the year, a small segment of tech-savvy internet pranksters have managed to adapt artificial intelligence (AI) programs to take the faces of mainstream movie stars and other personalities and map them onto the faces of porn stars having sex—and pretty much no one, not Hollywood nor porn, has been very happy about it. And the charges have flown back and forth, with each side blaming the other for the fakery, and with the performers in both camps (though mostly Hollywood's) decrying the reputation-smearing that has inevitably followed from the fake porn images. So it's not terribly surprising that SAG-AFTRA, the mainstream performers' union, would issue a statement decrying deepfakery. "We are closely watching the development of so-called deepfakes," wrote SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris in the latest quarterly issue of the union’s official magazine. "This artificial intelligence tool has the ability to steal our images and superimpose them onto another person’s body in potentially unpleasant and inappropriate digital forms. SAG-AFTRA is focused on these emerging processes and fighting back when the technology infringes on our members’ rights." Among those rights, in California and some other states, is the "right of publicity," under which celebrities may sue those who use the stars' images, words and other attributes without permission—and it's that right that the union will be employing to attempt to keep deepfakes out of the internet's mainstream. "We want to protect our members from the unauthorized use of their persona, including their digital replica, in advertisements, products, merchandise, company branding, fake news, movies, video games, or pornography," the SAG-AFTRA editorial continued. "And we want to see these protections for both living and deceased individuals. Neither New York nor Louisiana have post-mortem rights of publicity, despite their large entertainer populations. The right of publicity is a property asset, designed to protect the livelihood of our members from misappropriation and theft, and it should be exclusively or non-exclusively licensed or passed down to heirs, much like a copyright. Where a content creator misappropriates a living or deceased individual for commercialized fake news or fake porn, or in expressive works depicting the individual performing the activity for which they are known, e.g. delivering the news or performing fictional characters, we believe explicit protections should be in place. We also support new judicial theories to extend protections to individuals and their heirs who are victimized in fake porn videos." Of particular concern, especially in the current political environment, is the possibility that the faces of well-known mainstream newscasters or politicians may be pasted onto the bodies of others to make it seem as if they are calling for political actions to be taken, or "reporting" on such actions, when in fact no such statements were made by the actual personalities. In other words, it would be the ultimate in "fake news." "Recent advances in AI have made it easier than ever to put words in someone's mouth or place a person in unflattering situations," noted Engadget reporter Jessica Conditt. "Oscar-winning writer, actor and director Jordan Peele made a video with Buzzfeed this week showcasing how far this kind of technology has come: He made it appear as if former President Barack Obama called President Donald Trump 'a total and complete dipshit.'" The union has called for legislation to be passed to make such fakery illegal. And while several adult sites have promised to weed deepfakes from their online libraries, Conditt stated that, "just this week a simple search pulled up more than 100 videos featuring face-swapped celebrities." Pictured: NOT Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz.