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| 8.3.23

Disney Fights NY Bill That Would Cut Tax Breaks for Replacing Humans With AI

Should we ban AI from the film industry?

What's the story?

  • NBCUniversal and the Walt Disney Company are paying lobbyists to keep an eye on new legislation that would stop them from getting a tax break on AI used to replace actors.
  • Soon after the New York bill, S.B. 7422, was introduced in June, lobbyists started monitoring its movement, according to disclosures filed with the state Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government. 
  • The use of AI in media is a leading cause of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Writers Guild of America (WGA), as both writers and actors are voicing concerns about being replaced or replicated, without their consent, by AI. 
  • Since the beginning of 2020, NBCUniversal has received nearly $100 million in tax credits for 14 major New York productions, including Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live. Disney received almost $11 million for multiple projects. 

The Bill

New York State Senate Bill S7422

Bill Details

Bill Overview

  • The bill would amend the tax law to prohibit applicants of the Empire State Film Production tax credit from using artificial intelligence that would displace any natural person in their productions.

What's in the Bill?

Prohibits applicants from using AI in place of natural persons

  • The bill would cover any form of media, including text, images, video, or sound. It would apply to anything created fully or partially by AI.
  • The bill dubs this "synthetic media" and bans it from any production using the tax credit.

Protects performers and creators

  • The Chicago-based firm Challenger, Gray, & Christmas reported that nearly 4,000 jobs were lost due to AI in May 2023 alone.
  • The future of AI and job security in the film industry have been central to ongoing, contentious Hollywood negotiations and strikes this year. The WGA members have been on strike for over three months in light of debates on the use of AI in film and television production.

Arguments for

  • Gloria Bigalow, a screenwriter and member of WGA and SAG-AFTRA, spoke about the fear of AI replacing workers in the film industry:

"I'm very nervous about it. We understand that artificial intelligence is coming, it's here, it's going to be a part of our lives. But we need to use it as a tool, it shouldn't replace people. People want to know that their jobs are protected."

"It's not that AI shouldn't exist—it already does exist, that we can't stop. What we're looking for is regulation that keeps human beings and human interests in mind. I don't want a computer taking my script, learning from it for free, and I got nothing, and then putting me out of business."

Arguments against

"I'm worried but I don't want to sound reactionary. It's probably OK. It's probably mostly useful if it gets a creative person who finds the blank page daunting to think, 'Oh, all right, here's some pages, here's some ideas.'"

  • Joshua Glick, a professor of film and electronic arts, spoke about how AI can be used in progressive and innovative ways:

"There have been instances where these tools have been used in quite progressive and creative ways. In Welcome to Chechnya, Ryan Laney, the effects supervisor, was using deepfake technology as a way to protect the onscreen subjects to essentially create what was called 'digital veils' for the individuals that appear in the film. It allowed those people to communicate and engage with audiences but also to maintain their anonymity." 

"As is standard, we track, monitor and review any bills introduced that could potentially impact our business, and in compliance with New York State law, we transparently report those information-gathering efforts in our lobbying disclosures."

 

Should we ban AI from the film industry?

 

—Emma Kansiz & Jamie Epstein