The relationship between the entertainment industry and AI is being tested again. Hollywood industry news site Deadline reported that the owner of the animated series Peppa Pig is backtracking after asking the show’s children’s voice actors to sign contracts that would allow AI to voice their voices again.
Peppa Pig, which runs on Nickelodeon and streaming services such as Paramount Plus and Amazon’s Prime Video, is popular again in its 11th season. It is owned by the toy company Hasbro.
Deadline’s story focuses on an open letter from the Agents of Young Performers Association, a UK-based group that represents child performers. The letter states that the long-running animated TV series “has offered contracts to child voice actors insisting that they agree to the use of AI thereby allowing them to use the child’s voice in all commercial assets within their franchise.”
The book does not mention Peppa Pig by name, but Deadline said industry sources confirmed it was a reference to the show.
It’s a matter of consent. “Children cannot give fully informed legal consent and the consent of a parent or guardian should never be used as a general license to capture, imitate, train, or reuse a child’s voice forever,” the letter said. “Any agreement involving a child’s voice should be completely free of all use of AI.”
Hasbro has admitted that the book exists.
“Hasbro is aware of an open letter circulating about AI clauses in child labor contracts. We cannot comment on specific discussions or contract arrangements,” it said in an email in response to an inquiry from CNET.
The toy maker addressed the main topic in general. “The protection of child players is at the core of who Hasbro is, it’s part of our DNA. As industry standards around AI continue to evolve, we are committed to discussing this issue in a responsible and transparent manner,” the statement said.
An AYPA representative told CNET that it could not confirm the identity of the “international children’s organization that produces a long-form television series” mentioned in the letter, which did not name a studio or a specific project.
“Here in the UK, children are not allowed to join Equity until the age of 10 and yet parents of child actors who cannot join the union for support and guidance are asked to sign away their rights. A non-AI clause should be standard in all child actor contracts,” the AYPA email said.
AI’s complicated relationship with Hollywood
The response to the reported contract terms is another chapter in the tumultuous saga of the use of AI in movies, television, music and video games. The deadline story came out the same week as the movie studio A24 announced a deal with Google DeepMind to develop AI filmmaking tools, a move that has some indie cinema fans seeing red.
AI has been the subject of Hollywood strikes about how the technology will be used in scripts and replicating the likeness of actors. As AI models do get complicatedit raises concerns that it will, at any time, replace the work of talent and crew in all movies and television. AI can speed up production and save money for studios, but those efficiency gains may drive many people out of the entertainment industry.
If artists or studios are unsuccessful in their use of AI, as happened last year with Will Smith video including AI-generated concert recordings, playback can be fast.
Music companies are also waging their own battles with AI deepfakes on music platforms and social media, and again to authorize the use of music from the big AI remix artists, like UMG does.
The video game industry is also at a crossroads. Some studios and developers swear they have no plans to use AI at any stage of game development, while others have generative AI is deployed creating game assets or adding voice talent to their titles.