UK actors’ union Equity threatens strike action if AI regulation demands not met

The general secretary of UK actors’ union Equity has threatened the first strike in a generation if its demands for protections around artificial intelligence are not met.

Paul W Fleming

Speaking to weekly political magazine The House, Paul W Fleming said Equity is yet to agree a deal in its ongoing negotiations with UK producers trade body Pact.

“We have some very clear red lines around loyalty restructuring and around artificial intelligence, and if they’re not met, then for the first time in a generation, we will be considering an industrial response,” he told The House.

Equity formally started its negotiations with Pact to revise collective agreements across film and TV a year ago.

AI is listed as one of five key areas the union is seeking to address, alongside pay, secondary payments, casting and fair contracts.

On AI, it is calling for regulation to be put in place over the use of generative AI in production and fighting for clear protections for its members.

While there isn’t a deadline for Equity and Pact to reach an agreement, Fleming said Equity is keen for it to be done in the coming months to provide its members with “some certainty.”

It comes as discontent over the UK government’s approach to AI regulation grows among the country’s creative community, while actors are already losing out on work to AI in areas such as radio commercials.

Fleming, who was recently re-elected as general secretary of the performing arts and entertainment trade union, said: “They’re just having their work, their intellectual property, their likeness, bunged into a machine without their knowledge and probably illegally stolen.”

Fleming said Equity is fighting to prevent the same happening in film and TV and criticised the UK government’s current approach to AI.

The government’s plans to allow tech companies to use copyrighted material to train their AI models has faced a huge amount of backlash from creatives.

Yesterday the House of Lords rejected the latest amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill, with peers backing calls for greater transparency after high-profile musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney warned of the threat to creative industries.