Actor Bryan Cranston criticized Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ (SAG-AFTRA) use of artificial intelligence (AI).
During SAG-AFTRA's “Rock the City For a Fair Contract” event on Tuesday in Times Square, New York, Cranston delivered a speech singling out Disney CEO Bob Iger saying SAG-AFTRA members would not allow their jobs to be given to "robots."
“I find it very ironic that we are all gathered here today in unity in front of an entity that is run by Disney,” Cranston said. “We’ve got a message for Mr. Iger: I know, sir, that you look through things in a different lens. We don’t expect you to understand who we are. But we ask you to hear us and beyond that to listen to us when we tell you: We will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots.”
“We will not have you take away our right to work and earn a decent living,” he continued. “And lastly and more importantly, we will not allow you to take away our dignity.”
Cranston added the entertainment industry had "changed exponentially."
“We are not in the same business model that we were even 10 years ago. And yet, even though they admit that that is the truth in today’s economy, they are fighting us tooth and nail to stick to the same economic system that is outmoded, outdated," Cranston continued. "They want us to step back in time. We cannot and we will not do that.”
In mid-July, SAG-AFTRA's contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) expired prompting the current strike. Fellow actress Fran Drescher, who also serves as the SAG-AFTRA President, said workers were the "victims."
"We are being victimized by a very greedy entity," she said. "You are systematically trying to figure out ways to carve us out of what is due us. Shame on you!”
Earlier this month, the Disney CEO commented on SAG-AFTA's demands saying they were "disruptive and dangerous."
“I understand any labor organizations’ desire to work on the behalf of its members to get the most compensation and to be compensated fairly based on the value that they deliver," Iger told CNBC. "There’s a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic. And they are adding to a set of challenges that this business is already facing that is quite frankly very disruptive and dangerous.”
