Voice actors have been waging a fierce battle with the entertainment industry over training AI to synthesize their voices, effectively allowing them to reproduce their likenesses in perpetuity.
Not even underage performers are safe from the encroaching tech. As Deadline reports, the owner of “Peppa Pig,” US entertainment juggernaut Hasbro, is now asking child actors of the beloved children’s animated TV series to surrender rights over their own voices to AI under new contract terms.
Inside sources said it’s part of a much larger trend, with rights holders coercing children into signing over their rights.
Industry advocacy groups were taken aback. A new open letter by the Agents of Young Performers Association (AYPA) has been signed by over 1,000 members of the public, which argues that “any agreement involving a child’s voice should be fully exempt from all AI usage.”
While the letter didn’t call out Hasbro explicitly — it mentions a “major studio who owns the IP for an international children’s franchise producing a long running animated television series” — Deadline‘s sources said the letter was indeed aimed at the conglomerate and its handling of the “Peppa Pig” contracts.
“Where the performer is a child, consent must be treated with the greatest of care,” the letter reads. “Children cannot provide fully informed legal consent and a parent or guardian’s approval should never be used as a blanket license to capture, clone, train, or reuse a child’s voice indefinitely.”
Meanwhile, Hasbro has seemingly been trying to rein in the PR disaster in the making, telling the publication that it was committed to protecting child performers’ rights, while claiming it was looking to approach AI discussions responsibly and transparently.
The company also acknowledged the letter directly.
“Hasbro is aware of the open letter circulating regarding AI clauses in children’s performance contracts,” a spokesperson told Deadline. “We are not able to comment on specific negotiations or contractual arrangements.”
“The protection of child performers is core to who Hasbro is, it’s part of our DNA,” they added.
In short, it’s a worrying sign that major corporations are trying to rope talent, both young and old, into handing over the rights to their voices.
Beyond voice acting, producers are looking to outsource the job of animation itself to AI as well. But as Emmy-winning writer director Jorge Gutierrez, who had signed a deal with Amazon’s MGM Studios for an AI animated series, found out firsthand, the use of the tech has become immensely unpopular, especially when it threatens the roles of human creatives.
Following the announcement, Gutierrez was bombarded with criticism online, with some accusing him of selling out while venting their frustrations.
The director eventually thought better and decided to nix the idea altogether.
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