Canadian TV, film, music industries ask MPs to protect against AI – Winnipeg Free Press

OTTAWA – Canadian actors, directors and musicians are raising the alarm about artificial intelligence, saying it threatens their livelihoods and reputations.

Groups representing people working in TV, film and music are calling on the Liberal government to protect their industries in AI legislation.

Actors' union ACTRA says excessive use of AI could lead to artificially created videos misusing people's names and images, or even replacing human actors entirely.

“In the entertainment business, our reputation, including our name, image and likeness, is all we have. We are the brand,” national president Eleanor Noble told the House of Commons industry committee on Monday.

The committee is examining the government's proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, which is proposed as a regulatory framework to promote development while protecting individuals and communities from adverse impacts.

“The difference between getting a job one day and not getting a job the next can come down to the smallest things,” Noble said, “including a person's reputation.”

Last year, the impact of AI was at the center of two major strikes by actors and writers in the United States.

According to the Directors Guild of Canada, generative AI like ChatGPT is creating an existential threat by generating large amounts of work without permission or compensation.

Dave Forget, the guild's national executive, says it's “very difficult for rights holders to know when their work has been used without their consent to train AI models.”

Generative AI is trained with large amounts of existing material such as written texts, images and videos, which the system can then use to do its job.

For example, a system fed a book series such as George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones might be prompted to create its own version to complete the series in the author's style.

It is not yet clear how copyright law will apply to AI in Canada. The Liberal government recently held a consultation on copyright and generative AI, and a number of high-profile lawsuits have been launched in the US on the issue.

Music Canada says AI-generated content should be tagged so that people can tell the difference.

“Today, we're on the edge of the uncanny valley with AI,” said chief executive Patrick Rogers, citing the viral mock-up of Pope Francis in a Balenciaga jacket as an example.

“Once you know what to look for, you'll realize that a picture of the Pope in a white shirt is not a picture of the Pope. But this technology will never be worse than it is now. It's getting better every day.”

The Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, which is part of Bill C-27, targets what are described as “high-impact” AI systems.

First introduced before generative AI systems were widely available, the governing Liberals now plan to change it to include regulations on such technology, including requiring companies to take steps to label content.

The groups told MPs that, to their knowledge, their members had not received compensation for using their work using generative AI systems.

“We don't know because we don't know what they used,” ACTRA national executive director Marie Kelly said.

Rogers said the music industry has “put a lot of effort into licensing music in the best possible ways,” but those deals have yet to be made.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 12, 2024.