It’s been over a year since SAG and the WGA ended their months-long strikes with agreements that sought to address the coming impact of artificial intelligence on film and TV production.
But in that time, the technology has grown by leaps and bounds, with Open AI last week releasing it’s long-awaited Sora AI video generator which allows users to make a video from scratch using just a text prompt. Earlier today, Google launched its own video generation tool, Veo 2, which it says supports output in resolutions up to 4K. The tech giant plans to offer the video generation tool on YouTube Shorts and “other products” in 2025.
In that context, CAA and YouTube today announced a partnership which the Google-owned video giant says includes “plans to develop tools that will give creators and artists more awareness and control over how AI is being used to depict them on YouTube.” If effective, those tools would be a considerable step forward for talent on the world’s largest streaming and video platform.
As part of the partnership, YouTube said “several of the world’s most influential figures will have access to early-stage technology designed to identify and manage AI-generated content that features their likeness, including their face, on YouTube at scale.” Among the stated goals is to allow talent to “provide critical feedback to help us build our detection systems and refine the controls.” Those individuals will include award-winning actors and top talent from the NBA and NFL.
“At YouTube, we believe that a responsible approach to AI starts with strong partnerships,” said YouTube CEO Neal Mohan in a statement. “We’re excited to collaborate with CAA, an organization that shares our commitment to empowering artists and creators. In the days ahead, we’ll work with CAA to ensure artists and creators experience the incredible potential of AI while also maintaining creative control over their likeness. This partnership marks a significant step toward building that future.”
In what could be a big step toward protecting talent, the video giant promised that the tool “will provide easy access to submit requests for removal through our privacy complaint process.”
It’s worth noting here CAA client Scarlett Johansson’s months-long dustup with Google competitor Open AI. In May, OpenAI released a query response voice called “Sky” that sounded a lot like Johansson. The voice is no longer available on OpenAI, but the Her star said in an open letter that OpenAI founder Sam Altman in September 2023 sought Johansson’s permission to use her voice, got rejected, but moved ahead anyway.
CAA CEO and Co-Chairman Bryan Lourd said in his own statement, “Neal and I started speaking earlier this year about the importance of creating a responsible AI ecosystem that protects artists, while unlocking new possibilities for creative expression. At CAA, our AI conversations are centered around ethics and talent rights, and we applaud YouTube’s leadership for creating this talent-friendly solution, which fundamentally aligns with our goals. We are proud to partner with YouTube as it takes this significant step in empowering talent with greater control over their digital likeness and how and where it is used.”
YouTube indicated that the CAA partnership “is the first step of a larger testing effort. Over the next few months, we’ll announce new testing cohorts of top YouTube creators, creative professionals, and other leading partners representing talent.”
