Mr. Gerry O'Brien:

First, I want to address the independent sector. There are problems within the independent sector with regard to copyright and contracts, etc., going back to the implementation of the Copyright and Related Rights Act, which I mentioned earlier, but we are in negotiations that I do not wish to prejudice too much but we will be robust and will ensure that what we present to our members will protect their rights and will provide them with that proportionate remuneration.

With regard to AI, that is a really serious issue. I have attended several conferences with the International Federation of Actors and there are people losing their jobs very quietly which people do not know about. Across Europe, there is a vast career for performers who dub into local languages. This is now being taken over by AI.

The interesting thing is that it is still at a stage where sometimes they go back to the human voice because they cannot get a performance from AI. In Canada, the same thing has happened. A number of colleagues in Canada have been called back to dub into French-Canadian because AI is not doing it.

AI is a threat across GDPR and the copyright directive. It has the potential to reduce our employment. We had a case of an actor who agreed to do a voiceover session for a company. The person was not too sure what the agreement said, but they signed it and assumed it was fairly legal. That voiceover performer has now heard their own voice advertising various products, but it is not them. They have had their livelihood taken away. There was a presentation in the past few months which I found interesting where it said that GDPR gives a potential to withdraw yourself from that scenario because it is your digital rights. The copyright and related rights legislation of 2008 all demand that if someone signs away their voice or physical patterns, that person should be remunerated when they are used. That is what the Screen Actors Guild strike was about. It was to ensure informed consent for the use of a person’s image and voice and the need for a remunerative package each time it is used. That is a piece of legislation we need to address.