The CRTC should not classify material generated by artificial intelligence as Canadian content, unions representing actors and writers told the regulator Thursday.
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists said that “under no circumstance” should AI-created material be considered CanCon.
“Otherwise, it is a betrayal to our performers, who have already seen their moral rights violated and job opportunities limited by AI,” national president Eleanor Noble said.
The actors’ union appeared at a two-week hearing held by the federal broadcast regulator to consider how to modernize its definition of Canadian content. The CRTC had asked for input on the impact and role of artificial intelligence as part of that process.
Noble said AI is widely used in dubbing and urged the CRTC to “protect the livelihoods of Canadian performers.”
Marie Kelly, the organization’s national executive director, said there are appropriate uses of AI, such as employing the technology to make a stunt look more dramatic while keeping the performer safe.
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“But we are opposed to where the AI is generating performances,” she said.
Kelly said AI “should not take over the jobs of the creators in the ecosystem that we’re in and we should not treat AI-generated performers as if they are a Canadian actor.”
The Writers Guild of Canada, which appeared at the hearing Wednesday, also argued AI-generated content should not be considered Canadian content.
The CRTC’s definition of Canadian content is based on awarding points when Canadians occupy key creative positions in a production. It’s considering keeping that system and expanding it to allow more creative positions to count toward the total points.
The writers’ union said in its written submission that AI isn’t consistent with that approach. “Machines do not have citizenship. They do not live and reside in Canada, nor any other national jurisdiction, because they do not ‘live’ or ’reside,’” it said.
The group argued the use of AI systems by a Canadian doesn’t make the output Canadian either.
“Prompting a generative AI is not the same as creating content. It is fundamentally and overwhelmingly the AI technology that generates the output, not the human being inputting the prompts,” its submission said.
Crediting the AI user with the AI’s output, the group said, would be like “crediting the Sistine Chapel ceiling to Pope Julius II, because he commissioned its painting, rather than Michelangelo, who actually envisioned and painted it.”
