Olivia Williams says actors need ‘nudity rider’-type controls for AI body scans
Actors should have as much control over the data harvested from scans of their body as they do over nudity scenes, the actor Olivia Williams has said, amid heightened concern over artificial intelligence’s impact on performers.The star of Dune: Prophecy and The Crown said she and other actors were regularly pressed to have their bodies scanned by banks of cameras while on set, with few guarantees about how the data would be used or where it would end up.“A reasonable request would be to follow the precedent of the ‘nudity rider’,” she said.“This footage can only be used in the action of that scene.It cannot be used in any other context at all, and when the scene has been edited it must be deleted on all formats.
”Williams pointed to vague clauses in contracts that appeared to give studios wide-ranging rights over a performer’s likeness “on all platforms now existing or yet to be devised throughout the universe in perpetuity”.A renewed debate over the impact of artificial intelligence on actors has been prompted by widespread condemnation of the creation of an AI actor known as Tilly Norwood.Actors fear the data could be used to train AI models on their likenesses or poses, paving the way for the technology to eventually take away work.Performing and supporting actors, as well as stunt performers and dancers, have told the Guardian they have been “ambushed” into undertaking the body scans while on set.Several said they had no time to agree how the data produced would be treated, or whether it could be used to train AI models.
Williams said she had tried and failed to have wide-ranging clauses removed from her contracts.She also investigated how to own her own body scan data to license it for limited use, but lawyers advised her the law was too unclear.Legal fees for her attempts to reclaim her data proved too high.“I don’t necessarily want to be paid any more money for the use of my likeness,” she said.“I just don’t want my likeness to appear in places where I haven’t been, doing things I haven’t done, saying things I haven’t said.
“They make up the law as they go along and no one is stopping them – creating a precedent, reinforcing the precedent.I sign it, because if I don’t, I lose the job.”Williams said she was speaking out for the sake of young actors who faced little choice but to go through the scans, with few guarantees about what would happen to the data.“I have known a 17-year-old who was persuaded into a scanner – and like the child-catcher scene in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, she obliged,” she said.“She was a minor, so her chaperone had to give consent.
Her chaperone was her grandmother, unaware of the law.”The issue is the subject of talks between Equity, the UK performing arts union, and Pact, the UK screen sector’s trade body.“We’re demanding that AI protections are mainstreamed in the major film and TV agreements to put consent and transparency at the heart of scanning on set,” said Paul W Fleming, Equity’s general secretary.“It is within the industry’s reach to implement basic minimum standards which would be a gamechanger for performers and artists working in UK TV and film.”Pact said in a statement: “Producers are well aware of their obligations under data protection law and these issues are being considered as part of the collective negotiations between Pact and Equity.
As the negotiations are ongoing, we cannot comment in any detail.”
Ministers plan high-level visits to China despite espionage trial outcry
Ministers are pushing ahead with their reset of relations with China, including several planned high-level visits before the end of the year, despite the furore triggered by the collapse of a high-profile espionage trial.Plans have been drawn up for Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser, to travel to Beijing in November for talks before an anticipated trip by Keir Starmer next year.Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, and Patrick Vallance, the science minister, are also expected to travel to China on government business before the end of the year.The government could yet decide to pull or postpone Powell’s November trip after he was dragged into the controversy surrounding the abandonment of charges against two men accused of spying for Beijing.A government spokesperson said: “We have long been clear that we are bringing a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing our relations with China, rooted in UK interests
No 10 says Badenoch’s claim PM should have intervened to stop China spy trial collapsing ‘absurd’ – as it happened
Matt Western, the Labour chair of the joint committee on national security strategy, said that his commitee met this morning and has decided to hold a formal inquiry into this.He said the chairs of the home affairs committee, the foreign affairs committee and the justice committee were among the committee’s members.He asked for an assurance that the inquiry would have access to ministers and officials.Ward said the government welcomed parliamentary scrutiny. He said he was sure witnesses would be made available to the committee
China spying case: dream job turns into nightmare for DPP Stephen Parkinson
Stephen Parkinson dreamed of being the most senior prosecutor in England and Wales before he even qualified as a barrister, but now finds himself in a situation more akin to a nightmare.As the director of public prosecutions (DPP), Parkinson is facing questions over why he felt he could not proceed with the trial of two men accused of spying for China. He said the case was dropped because prosecutors had tried and failed to obtain a witness statement from the government stating that China posed a current “threat to the national security of the UK”.But that explanation has been called into question by some senior lawyers and, perhaps more ominously for Parkinson’s job prospects, by politicians too. A government minister, Stephen Kinnock, declined to say whether Parkinson was the right person for the job of DPP
Farage urged to explain anti-abortion links to meeting with Trump officials
Nigel Farage has been urged to explain why a US anti-abortion advocacy group helped arrange a meeting in London with Trump administration officials and diplomats.The meeting, first reported by the New York Times, took place in March between Farage and a delegation from Trump’s state department, which it said was overseen by the US embassy and brokered by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) group. The meeting was said to have discussed abortion rights, free speech and online safety laws.ADF, which supports free speech and religious freedom, has worked in Britain to help challenge the prosecutions of Christians who were arrested for praying silently outside abortion clinics, breaching “buffer zones”. The group, which is non-politically partisan and says it is a human rights charity, said it was not present at the meeting and had never met with Reform UK politicians to discuss abortion law
Why MPs prefer conspiracy theory over cock-up in China spy case row | John Crace
It’s all as clear as mud. If Keir Starmer thought that releasing the three witness statements of the deputy national security adviser (DNSA) Matthew Collins late on Wednesday night was going to make the China spy case row go away, then he was in for a big disappointment.There was no way MPs were going to let a story like this out of their clutches. This was their moment to take centre stage. When they could bathe in their own importance
Labour begins charm offensive to win over MPs sceptical of digital ID plans
Ministers have launched a charm offensive to win over sceptical Labour MPs to back the digital ID scheme, asking MPs to offer ideas about how it could improve public services.The outreach is part of a broader loyalty and delivery drive to soothe tensions after a fractious few months for the government.Several cabinet ministers have said the government needs to make the case for a wider digital identity system. The aim is for the ID cards to be rolled out before the next election and initially used to prove people’s right to work, before being expanded to store health and benefits data to streamline access to public services and tackle fraud.Ministers have told MPs there is a firm commitment to build the digital ID within the public sector and not contract it out to private companies
What could a Trump deal on critical minerals mean for Australia – and could MAGA be a sticking point?
UK government borrowing costs fall to lowest level since July
Dan and Phil’s relationship revelation is a reminder of how toxic fandoms can be | Eilish Gilligan
Launch of veteran card will be used to test UK government’s digital ID scheme
The beautiful stroll: England’s seniors take walking football to world stage
Owen Farrell to miss out on England recall for autumn internationals