More than 16,000 people have signed SAG-AFTRA’s open letter demanding Congress pass the revived NO FAKES Act, an anti-deepfake bill that would give individuals control over how their name and likeness are used.
Deepfakes have been a constant presence in the AI age as large-language models have made generating depictions of actors, singers and other celebrities much more accessible to the public. The performers union’s letter warns that deepfakes proliferating online risk putting “victims, performers, creators and consumers at risk and in danger” over unauthorized use cases in “scams, exploitation, false endorsements and the replacement of human performance itself.”
The signatories include creators, actors, students, parents and members of the general public. A SAG-AFTRA spokesperson did not respond to an immediate request for a list of names.
“Unchecked AI can ruin lives,” SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin said in a statement. “Americans are demanding that the Federal Government take sensible action. The NO FAKES Act would establish a fundamental protection to control their own voice and likeness.”
“Rarely does legislation earn this kind of cross-sector support. The NO FAKES Act represents common sense, long-overdue federal protection, and Congress now has both the opportunity and the obligation to pass it,” added Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s national executive director and chief negotiator.
