With AI making the rounds, digging its grubby electronic fingers into every last corner of the internet (and the job market) people are getting better and better at spotting what’s not made by humans.

So maybe that’s why these background actors in “Prom Pact” stuck out like sore(ly made) thumbs.

The movie was completed while the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America were on strike, putting a halt to production. One of the major points of contention is the use of AI in television and in films.

SAG-AFTRA’s strike is ongoing as actors ask for protections against the studios using AI versions of their likeness or voice – and it seems as though their concerns are more than founded.

Case-in-point, Disney’s Prom Pact, in which the background actors are all generated by CGI.

https://twitter.com/_ChristopherM/status/1712487958807253126

It…does not look good, y’all.

And back in July, chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA Duncan Crabtree-Ireland stated that the Alliance for Motion Picture and Television Producers had actually proposed to pay background actors for a single day’s work but then digitally reproduce their images and use them for literally ever.

Freelance writer Christopher Marc is angry about what Disney tried.

“Disney is insane and just more reason why the AMPTP needs to ditch this plan to replace background actors with AI. The uncanny valley will always make your show/film look like hot garbage and age like milk.”

Everyone wants to know why Disney thought this was a good idea – whether they were short-staffed, under some additional restraints, of just wanted to know whether or not they could get away with it.

A recently proposed bill “prohibits the unauthorized use of digital replicas without the informed consent of the individuals being replicated.”

We’re still waiting to hear whether or not the studios (or eventually the government) will think these are fair terms.

It’s a brave new world, and everyone fighting the good fight is going to need to hold the line for the rest of us.