Actors have voted overwhelmingly to refuse digital scanning on set in a bid to secure adequate AI protections.
Equity – the UK’s largest acting union – announced the results of an indicative industrial action ballot on Thursday.
With a turnout of over 75%, over 99% of those who voted said they would be prepared to refuse a set scan.
Announcing the results at Equity’s headquarters in Covent Garden, Equity general secretary Paul W Fleming said: “Artificial intelligence is a generation-defining challenge. And for the first time in a generation, Equity’s film and TV members have shown that they are willing to take industrial action.
“90% of TV and film is made on these agreements. Over three quarters of artists working on them are union members. This shows that the workforce is willing to significantly disrupt production unless they are respected, and decades of erosion in terms and conditions begin to be reversed.
“The US streamers and PACT need to step away from the brink, and respect this show of strength. We need adequate AI protections which build on, not merely replicate, those agreed after the SAG-AFTRA strike in the USA over two years ago.”
The vote follows unrest in the US in 2023, when members of Equity’s sister union, SAG-AFTRA, went on strike for four months over issues including artificial intelligence protections.
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The vote came after 18 months of talks with the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) and allied producers.
Mr Flemming added, “The ball is in their court when we return to the table in January.”
It’s the first time such a large section of Equity’s membership – over 7,000 performers working across TV and film – has been balloted, and is a big moment for the UK’s film and TV industry.
As an indicative ballot, it’s not binding, nor would it legally cover members who refuse to be digitally scanned on set.
It acts as a warning shot to the industry, showing the level of support the union has for action, short of a strike.
Speaking to Sky News about AI earlier in the day, actor Riz Ahmed, who is currently starring in a modern re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, said: “I don’t think you can be relaxed about something that’s gonna change our lives so dramatically.
“But I do think that, in a way, AI can’t do creativity. I think AI can make things, it can make finished products, but without friction, without struggle to get there, things don’t have meaning. A frictionless life is a meaningless life.”
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