Hollywood actors are on strike for the first time in 43 years, and their actions are disrupting the filming of film and television productions.

One of their demands is to settle issues related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) as they raise fears about its effects.

The Screen Actors Guild SAG-AFTRA failed to reach an agreement to better protect its members from Artificial Intelligence and warned that “Artificial Intelligence is a threat to the creative professions”.

Duncan Crabtree Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator criticized the producers for their proposals regarding Artificial Intelligence.

Specifically, he said studio heads had requested the ability to scan the faces of non-starring artists, pay them a day’s pay, and then be able to own and use their likeness “for the rest of eternity, in any project they want, without consent and no compensation.”

The proposal of the heads of the studios, as the BBC points out, is reminiscent of the plot of an episode of the series “Black Mirror”.

US media have been quick to note that in the new six-episode series ‘Joan Is Awful’ Hollywood star Salma Hayek struggles with the discovery that her AI form may be being used by a production company without her knowledge.

SAG-AFTRA isn’t alone in its concerns about so-called “performance cloning.” Liam Budd of Britain’s Actors Guild Equity said: “We see this technology being used in a range of things like automated audiobooks, digital avatars for corporate videos,” he said.

Equity strives to educate its members about understanding their rights in this fast-paced world, he added.

“Technology should solve a problem, and there is no problem solved by those using Artificial Intelligence. We don’t have a shortage of writers, we don’t have a shortage of actors, we don’t have a shortage of directors – so we don’t need AI,” said Justin Bateman, writer and producer.