SAG-AFTRA’s AI – SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP reached a tentative agreement on May 2, renewing key AI protections from the 2023 strike and adding new rules on digital replicas, security, penalties, and notice when likenesses are licensed for third-party training.
A new AI-focused tentative deal between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP is already being treated like a line in the sand for how Hollywood uses actors in the age of synthetic performances.. Reached on May 2. the agreement may not include a sweeping ban that stops studios from using a synthetic performer if they choose—but it does lock in rules meant to keep real people at the center of production decisions.
For actors who went into the 2023 strike demanding enforceable compensation and consent standards for AI. the bigger win may be what didn’t happen: the new contract doesn’t dial back the protections won in 2023.. The technology has advanced fast over the last three years. and there’s been pressure on studios to loosen restrictions as capabilities improve.. Instead, the agreement holds the line.
Ray Seilie, a trial attorney who specializes in AI issues with Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir, framed it bluntly: “The fact that the studios aren’t pushing for more exemptions is a sign that Hollywood still relies on real people.”
Seilie added that studios appear to see live actors as “the necessary core to the production of films,” warning that if they believed otherwise, the pushback would be harder and more extensive.
Under SAG-AFTRA’s published summary of the minimum bargaining agreement for 2026, the union spells out 12 provisions tied to AI.. Those include rules on digital replicas. security requirements for those replicas. a penalty over using a synthetic performer instead of a real actor. and notice requirements if a studio licenses an actor’s data to a third party for AI training.
The agreement also comes with other contract changes that go beyond AI.. It includes raises to the minimums of 3 percent compounding each year. new rules for protecting background actors. updates around casting and vertical micro dramas. and the merger of the SAG pension plan and AFTRA retirement plan with new funding.. The term for this contract runs four years, not three.
Labor attorney Maria Rodriguez, with McDermott Will & Schulte, said she was “very impressed” by what she called a “thorough” and “robust” deal that “touches on numerous areas and doesn’t leave out any members.” She also pointed to incremental improvements on the AI side.
“They’re being more specific,” Rodriguez said. “And I think part of it is you learn as things evolve. The contracts are always going to be evolving along with our experience and how AI is used, or should be used, or can be used.”
One notable change Rodriguez pointed to involves how a “scripted” performance is treated for the purpose of digital replicas.. She said the contract narrowed what counts as acceptable use in the edit room.. The new language specifies that “script” refers to the material the actor was actually handed—not later-written material.
The deal also reflects how replication technology has shifted.. Rodriguez noted that a digital replica no longer requires a full scan to count the same way; the contract specifies that a replica made even without the actor’s help is treated the same as a complete scan.. The agreement also covers scans made by a third party. not just those produced by the studios. saying payment is still the same.
It’s not just about leading actors. The summary outlines similar protections for background actors and, crucially, for minors. Rodriguez highlighted the added language that a digital replica of a kid actor can’t be used for simulated sexual activity.
“I think it’s really buttoned down,” she said, pointing to protections that include strike-related safeguards—digital replicas won’t be allowable to replace striking actors.
Alongside those limits, the agreement acknowledges the risk side of the technology. It includes security requirements, noting that studios must protect digital replicas and related scans and data from “hacks, leaks, or unauthorized use,” even when they involve background actors.
Seilie argued those security and human-value provisions likely weren’t too difficult for studios to accept. since studios also want to protect their own intellectual property while uncertainty grows around how quickly tools will evolve.. He cited the rapid pace of change by noting that OpenAI’s Sora “doesn’t even exist any longer.”
Still, one of the trickiest provisions remains intentionally soft. The contract says studios must show “significant additional value” to use a synthetic, but that standard is vague. Seilie suggested that vagueness may be strategic.
“I suspect that these provisions are designed to be open ended, vague, and subject to further negotiation, specifically because both sides, frankly, want to leave open the possibility that technology requires them to revisit whatever arrangements they have right now,” Seilie said.
The written summary also repeatedly signals future bargaining as use cases evolve, and Rodriguez emphasized why a built-in procedure matters when technology is moving faster than contract cycles.
Even so. the agreement is described as a minimum deal—meaning the biggest developments may come later when A-list stars negotiate what’s acceptable for their likeness.. The contract’s minimum framework. however. is aimed at the groups most exposed to replacement risk. including background actors and stunt performers.
One unsettled issue still sits at the center of the fight: training data from third-party models.. Actors don’t get a right to control what studios do with their intellectual property through training.. But the agreement does require studios to notify an actor if their likeness has been licensed to a third party for AI use.
Seilie said the notice requirement may not give performers a direct veto, but it changes what can happen in the dark.
“Transparency is valuable,” he said. “Hollywood runs on public perception. The fact that an actor will now have the power to say, ‘I didn’t want the studio to do this, but I don’t have any power over them’…you can imagine there’s a potential PR use.”
He added that the dynamic matters because major AI builders “are not going to be transparent unless it has to be.”
SAG-AFTRA AMPTP AI deal digital replicas scripted performances background actors minors training data synthetic performers Ray Seilie Maria Rodriguez