As generative artificial intelligence advances at an exponential rate, tech companies compete to develop ever more powerful models – touting their incredible potential to serve humanity – and governments around the world gaze in awe at their economic impact, often settling for legislation that does little to slow their rise, it is more important than ever to change the narrative. We must amplify the voices within our societies that are alarmed by the potential pitfalls of these technologies and their consequences for millions of workers who stand to lose their jobs if AI is not strictly regulated and constrained to remain a tool – albeit a powerful one – serving human labour, rather than a substitute intended to replace it.
All sectors are affected, including the arts and entertainment, which may even be on the front line in the short term. The voices, images and likenesses of artists are among the data most widely exploited, often without consent or remuneration, to train AI to generate content that imitates them or even to create synthetic performers. This is a modernised, radical and techno-cynical form of social dumping. For what could be more cynical than replacing a human being, not with another underpaid and underprotected worker, but with an unrivalled machine capable of operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without paid holidays, health insurance or social rights? A machine that does not benefit from any of the hard-won gains of generations of workers’ struggles to ensure that human labour is recognised at its true value and allows everyone to live with dignity – not as beasts of burden, but as fulfilled human beings and active members of the society.
Unregulated AI is the digital equivalent of glyphosate: a technology designed to eliminate all forms of ‘laborious’ human competition, while claiming to produce, on its own, what is supposedly good for the planet. It is a system programmed to imitate the functioning of the human brain, but without ever being able to understand the unique blend of experience, lived events and emotions that make each individual unique and rich. And just like glyphosate, this promise of productivity could lead to massive impoverishment: standardisation, the loss of diversity, a loss of meaning and, ultimately, a poison passed on to future generations. It will be up to them to deal with the consequences…
AI – and generative AI in particular – must remain a tool at the service of humans. It must help us do better, not necessarily more; respond to the major challenges of our time; and rethink our lifestyles, which are too often dictated by unbridled neoliberalism. It must enable each and every one of us to find our place in society, live with dignity, and prepare for a sustainable future. It must enhance human genius, not replace it. It can relieve us of the most tedious tasks, but it must never erase the hand, mind and voice of those who create, think and transmit. It is up to us, our individual and collective commitment, our ability to say no, including in our daily lives, and to demand accountability from our elected representatives. You don’t have to be an expert or an engineer to have a say. Most of our decision-makers aren’t either, and yet they make the laws. We all have the right – and the duty – to express ourselves.
We must raise our voices now, because now is the time everything is at stake.
In our sector, the impact is already being felt: in dubbing, voice-overs, animation and video games, synthetic voices are steadily replacing human voices. Tomorrow, it will be the actors themselves – their acting, their image, their gestures and their voices – that will be mimicked, sometimes skilfully, often soullessly, in an almost perfect digital deception. A mirror to larks.
We must act now, and we must all feel concerned. Since its inception, the FIA has been campaigning for ethical generative AI based on informed consent, transparency, authorised uses and fair remuneration. These principles lead us to support all initiatives, in our sector and elsewhere, that defend the same values. Recently, we extended our support to a statement issued by the Quebec arts community, which we also invite you to endorse, as well as to a call launched at the Annecy Animation Film Festival, warning of the devastating effects of generative AI in this specific sector. We encourage all our members and affiliates to read them, support them if they can, and above all, draw inspiration from them to carry the same message at the national level.
The louder we are, the more likely we are to bring about change. Together, let’s make our voices heard! While they are still ours.
