Her message is now resonating with a larger audience as unionized writers and actors continue their strike against studios and streamers — a protest driven in part by the fear that the unfettered use of AI will render them irrelevant to the industry’s future. Writers and studios are slated to resume talks on Friday.
Bateman believes it’s too late to save Hollywood, but she also said that shouldn’t stop Washington from trying. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. To hear more from Bateman, listen to today’s episode of the POLITICO Tech podcast.
Steven Overly: You’ve been advising SAG-AFTRA on AI issues during the negotiations with studios and streamers. AI just seems like a very unstoppable force. Is that the goal here?
Bateman: I agree with you. I do not think that I can stop it. I don’t think that anything I’m writing about can stop what I see as the crushing of our industry from generative AI’s inclusion. So yeah, I agree with you.
I’m based here in Washington, and I read that you actually testified in the Senate in 2008 at a hearing on net neutrality. I don’t know how much you’re following the AI regulation debates here in D.C., but I wonder if there’s anything you’d like to see lawmakers do on this issue.
One thing that would just be great is if there was absolutely a requirement that you had to say AI was involved in this. I mean, with fresh produce, if you want a stamp that says it’s organic, you have to hold certain standards. I’ve established this CREDO23, which is going to be a stamp available to filmmakers who want to tell the audiences that they made a “normal film.” They didn’t use generative AI.
They used VFX minimally and CGI minimally, and they used a union crew. It’s something really simple. I wish it wasn’t something we even had to focus on, but at least something like that, it’ll give the audience confidence, and not feel like, “Oh, wait a minute, did I just watch a fake…