Hollywood Agency and Tech Start-Up want to protect artists with the help of AI
Talent agency WME on Tuesday announced a partnership with tech company Vermillio, which hopes to protect its clients from misuse of their likenesses through artificial intelligence technology.
Vermillio has created a platform, Trace ID, that can protect WME customers from theft of their likeness and intellectual property by using AI technology to track images. The partnership will also look at ways to use the technology so customers can monetize their likeness and image.
The use of AI and how to protect these assets was a major point of contention during last year's actors' strike. Even after a deal was finalized with SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, some performers remained dissatisfied with AI protections. For example, the contract does not prohibit studios from filling screens with “synthetic fakes,” which can be created via AI by splicing together recognizable features of real actors to make up a character.
AI-generated images are also spreading online, such as the fake, sexually explicit images of Taylor Swift that appeared online last week.
WME said its primary concern was protecting its customers.
“We've been working on this for some time to try to address this issue so that our customers have protection to at least start addressing what is clearly a rampant problem,” said Chris Jacquemin, head of digital strategies from WME.
Deepfakes involving famous actors and entertainers have been a problem for years. However, the relatively recent emergence of more advanced AI has exacerbated the problem. This month, a fake ad for cookware maker Le Creuset appeared on Facebook. It featured what purportedly was Ms. Swift offering free cooking utensils in exchange for users' personal information. Neither Ms. Swift nor Le Creuset were involved in the promotion.
“You have no real way to stop it other than manually tripping over it,” Mr. Jacquemin said of these types of scams. “Vermillio is starting to automate that process.”
WME's customers will now provide their identifying digital data to Vermillio to be recorded and protected on the blockchain. Vermillio said it could then track and authenticate images of the customers that appear online. Those images can then be deleted, or the customer can decide to request payment. Vermillio would get a share of that revenue.
WME and Vermillio said the partnership could also help compensate artists if, for example, studios want to use AI to have a person's voice translate content into other languages.
Dan Neely, the entrepreneur behind Vermillio, said: “With this authenticity, talent can give fans the new entertainment experiences they want, while protecting and empowering themselves.”