AI Voices Are Coming To TV Commercials & Society Is Screwed

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"

That's essentially what Hollywood has now done, as the same actors' union that picketed and refused to work from July to November 2023 primarily so they wouldn't get screwed by studios using their Name, Image, and Likeness via Artificial Intelligence has now made an agreement with what else, but an AI firm!

Yesterday, Hollywood's SAG-AFTRA union announced that they made a deal with the media entity "Narrativ" to give actors and actresses the ability to sell the rights of their voices to advertisers who can then implement them via AI. The union argues that they are trying to get ahead of the AI battle by putting in some safeguards that would allow the talent to at least control where their voice goes and also to make sure that they get paid for it.

HOLLYWOOD JUST DOOMED THEIR OWN ACTORS AND ACTRESSES

And just like that, my friends, humans have officially lost the battle to robots and the algorithm. Get ready for absolute CHAOS. You think you don't know what's real or not right now, you ain't seen NOTHING yet. 

"Not all members will be interested in taking advantage of the opportunities that licensing their digital voice replicas might offer, and that’s understandable," SAG-AFTRA official Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said yesterday. "But for those who do, you now have a safe option."

What Duncan doesn't tell you in his statement is that he and the powers-that-be know very well that once a few A-list celebrities hop on board, so will many others. 

‘AL MICHAELS: DO YOU BELIEVE IN… AI?’

Imagine being an actor that gets cast for an animated voiceover role… but you DON'T have to actually show up and record for days upon days because AI is going to do it for you AND you still get paid? Something tells me that anyone from an aging 84-year-old Al Pacino to a younger but busier person like Miley Cyrus might say yes to that, no? 

You know we're screwed when legendary broadcaster Al Michaels - who had the MOST ICONIC Olympics call of all time regarding the 1980 U.S. Men's Hockey team defeating the Russians with his "Do You Believe In Miracles?" agreed to have NBC / Peacock use an Artificial Intelligence version of his voice to do wraps during last month's Olympics games. 

If you think this has to only deal with celebrities and not your own life, you need to get a clue.

Toys "R" Us just revealed their latest commercial but instead of your son or daughter being a part of it, they went with an AI character instead! Genius move for a company that declared bankruptcy and had to shutter nearly all its stores just a few years ago. Hopefully those AI characters have deep pockets!

WELCOME TO ELECTION MADNESS

As I've previously written time and time again, the average person is pretty dumb. How many times has one of our friends shared a tweet or something they saw online without bothering to see if it was even true or not?

On the flipside, this also allows people to not just lazily claim that something they don't agree with is "Fake News" but that now it must automatically be a "Deepfake" or a "Cheap Fake," thus sending everyone into a whirlwind of trying to figure out what is real.

I leave you with this final thought:

If people start hearing a celebrity via an AI voice, they will automatically assume that they agreed to it, right? 

Newsflash: Has anyone heard of a radio interview? Whose to say that someone with bad intentions won't alter the celebrity's approved AI voice tone from other commercials voice and then alter it to have them saying something they never did? 

Good luck everyone, because we are going to need it as Artificial Intelligence takes over.