THOSE who oppose new technologies are sometimes accused of being Luddites in a pejorative way — it’s a term thrown at those who simply oppose progress or change. 

However, as trade unionists, we should perhaps bear the mantle of Ned Ludd’s movement as it was originally intended by our radical working-class forebears. 

The movement’s response to the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI), whether in the creative industries or in the economy and society more broadly, merits the Luddite rallying call not to oppose change or progress but to tackle technology which was used, as they said “in a fraudulent and deceitful manner” to cut jobs, pay and undermine terms and conditions.

From supermarket tills to radio jingles, and from call centres to mass battle scenes, AI is becoming part of our lives. 

But whereas we are all conscious of the replacement of retail workers by a self-checkout, and the failure of bosses to deliver reduced hours and higher pay as a result of this labour saving, you may be more surprised to hear of the growing ways AI is being used in the industries where Equity organises. 

Taking hours of vocal and sound recordings from a voice artist and synthesising it so it can be used for everything from a radio jingle to an audiobook, advert or GPS navigation is a growing practice. 

Almost every movement you see on a computer game or the huge crowd scenes in an epic fantasy film have behind them the artistic effort of Equity members whose likenesses, empathy and experience are fed through technologies to create the effects which you see or control.

Well over 90 per cent of British scripted content on TV and on film is made on a union collective agreement, and this strong industrial framework has meant Equity has been able to protect the property and rights of deceased actors (and their estates) when they are re-animated for major film franchises. 

But in the emerging sectors of games, apps and the Wild West of advertising, murkier practices are emerging. Lengthy and confusing — and sometimes unenforceable — contracts are permitting the usage of likenesses and movement in any time, any place, anywhere. 

From the stealing and synthesising of a voice artist’s vocals, to the creation of digital avatars that can be used to advertise weaponry or fossil fuels, the ethical implications are vast.

In this landscape, Equity’s Stop AI Stealing the Show campaign has been formed. It has three elements designed to improve performers’ protections: educate on the rights that exist, enforce the terms which have been agreed, and expand the legal rights of all workers in the face of new technology.

Britain is considered a global leader in intellectual property, but in this area most legislation dates from the late 1980s, when I was an infant, computer games were 2D, and we were only on Thatcher 1.0. 

Things need to change — and fast. The government must urgently update performers’ rights to ensure our members can control the exploitation of their image, voice or likeness in the ever-evolving digital world. 

We also have to make sure that there are clear protections for moral rights (which relate to the creator’s reputation), guarantees of negotiated remuneration, and ethical protections against ingraining very human prejudices into the way AI operates.

As with supermarket workers who see themselves with fewer shifts and no more pay in the wake of self-service tills, Equity members are also beginning to lose out on valuable forms of income to AI replacements. 

Well-paid audio commercials have long been such an area which underpins lower wages in other parts of the sector. Walk-on and supporting artist parts are a mainstay of Equity members working in variety and light entertainment as much as actors. 

The ability to creatively participate and progress in emerging areas like videogames is being limited as a computer has the increasing capacity to replace a performer when it comes to the creation of a character’s voice and movements. 

Equity’s approach to bargaining has always been to approach it as worker, rather than engager, centred: to try to ensure that there are as many forms of high-quality work as possible, acknowledging that the means of our engagers vary wildly — with often the most experimental and artistically fulfilling work created with the smallest amount of money behind them. 

If AI removes existing avenues, and fails to provide high-quality new ones, this approach is under threat.

Our motion at Congress asks our movement to hone their approach, and recognise how it impacts us all. 

We welcome, in particular, the UCU amendment which shines a light on how the misuse of AI threatens creativity, originality, and intellectual property in education. 

The ethical issues for educators and creatives are deeply connected, and many more will be affected if we allow technology to undermine our pay, terms and conditions. 

I’ve no doubt that a modern movement can do justice to the activists of the true Luddites. These skilled working people, not seeing technology used for safety, lower hours and higher pay petitioned, campaigned, protested and took direct action — they found one of their great allies and advocates in Lord Byron. 

Once again, creatives are stepping up to stand with all those threatened by the fraudulent and deceitful use of technology, and demanding a different future, where technology is in service to working people, and not the other way around.

Paul W Fleming is general secretary of Equity.