AI & Acting: What You Need to Know

AI is no longer something on the horizon. It is here, and it is already shaping the creative industries, including acting.

Whether you are just starting out or have years of experience, it is important to understand how AI is being used in our industry and what your rights are when it comes to your image, voice, and performance.

What Is AI in Acting?

Artificial Intelligence in this context refers to technologies that can replicate or simulate aspects of human performance. This includes:

• Voice cloning, such as replicating your voice for audiobooks or voiceover work

• Digital doubles, using body and face scans for CGI or crowd scenes

• AI-generated content, including characters or performances built using your likeness

  
  

AI is not replacing actors entirely, but it is being used to reproduce parts of our work without us being physically present.

Why This Matters

If you have ever been scanned on set, recorded for voiceover, or signed a standard release form, you may already have agreed to things without realising it.

Some contracts include clauses that allow for your performance, voice, or image to be altered, reused, or replicated indefinitely. This sometimes happens without further payment or even your knowledge.

There is also an important legal consideration: AI-generated work cannot currently be copyrighted under UK and US law. That means if a producer creates a synthetic performance based on your likeness using AI, the work may not be protected as intellectual property in the usual way. This makes it harder to control, regulate, or challenge how that material is used or distributed.

What Equity Says

Equity has put together a detailed AI Toolkit to help actors understand these issues. Here are some key points:

• Check for AI or synthetic use clauses in any contract. Look out for terms like "in perpetuity," "digital replication," or "synthetic performance."

• Ask questions if you are being recorded, scanned, or asked to sign something. What is being captured? Why? For how long will it be used?

• Negotiate usage rights. You can ask for limits on how your likeness is used or request extra payment if it is going to be digitally replicated.

• Consent matters. You have the right to refuse the creation of a digital version of yourself.

• Stay connected to your union. Equity is actively working to protect performers' rights in this area.

  
  

What the Future Looks Like

Technology is evolving rapidly, but that does not mean human performance is becoming less valuable. In fact, audiences continue to respond to authentic, emotionally present work.

What is changing is how performances are captured, stored, and reused. One legal complication worth noting is that AI-generated work cannot be copyrighted under UK and US law. If a character or performance is created entirely by AI, without a human author or performer, it may not qualify for copyright protection at all.

This creates a serious limitation for producers and creatives. Without copyright, there is no clear ownership, and no lasting control over how that material is used or distributed. It is one of several reasons why using real actors currently remains not just creatively but legally and commercially important.

What You Can Do Now

• Read the Equity AI Toolkit

• Be cautious with contracts involving scans, voice recordings, or open-ended usage rights

• Have conversations with other actors about AI and creative consent

• Keep informed through Equity or other reliable sources

Final Thought

Actors are used to adapting. That is part of the job. But adaptation does not mean giving up control. Staying informed, asking the right questions, and understanding your rights are essential steps to protecting yourself in this rapidly changing industry.