On Oct. 19, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland delivered a keynote speech virtually during a livestream panel hosted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
The panel, Artificial Intelligence in the Audiovisual Industry, brought together different leaders to discuss the proliferation of AI in the entertainment industry.
Crabtree-Ireland’s keynote, which served as an opener for the panel, addressed generative AI’s impact on industry workers, specifically actors, and the importance of having creative laborers as active participants and stakeholders as the industry’s future.
“Over the coming decade, artificial intelligence will augment the activities of many and also, undoubtedly, will intrude on and potentially extinguish some endeavors that have existed in human life for decades,” said Crabtree-Ireland.
“There are going to be both disruptions and breakthroughs, exploitation and discoveries, and it’s the creative community that finds itself in the unique position of being the ones who are charting the course and laying the first guideposts.”
Following the keynote, panel speakers furthered the conversation by discussing a range of topics and forecasting how AI will impact the industry’s future.
This item was originally featured in the SAG-AFTRA fall/winter 2023 magazine issue.