HIGH-PROFILE actors are calling on their fellow workers in film and TV to vote yes in a union ballot protecting them from abuses surrounding artificial intelligence (AI).

A campaign from Equity, a performing arts and entertainment trade union with 50,000 members, has gained the support from actors such as Adrian Lester, Hugh Bonneville and Harriet Walter.

The ballot would enshrine AI protections for performers into trade union agreements.

Workers represented by Equity will be able to vote until Thursday at 12pm on the ballot which would indicate whether they are prepared to refuse to be digitally scanned while on set, in order to protect their image from being replicated using AI on further productions.

Acclaimed stage and screen actor Mr Lester said: “I don’t want AI carrying out my art for me, writing, directing or acting.

“AI is a tool used by creatives and should be for laundry, dishes and admin in order to leave us free as artists to create authentic human performances.

“I’ve worked as an actor on film and TV sets for decades and I know it can be hard for young and early career performers to question being digitally scanned on set.

“That’s why it’s so important to get minimum protections on AI for everyone in our contracts and agreements.”

Ms Walter, who has starred in several big budget films including Sense and Sensibility and Law & Order: London, said: “The whole point about any artistic endeavour is that it is a reaching out from a human creator to connect with other humans and share the experience of living life as a human being.  

“AI may be able to write novels, paint pictures and even simulate human actors but none of that can have any meaning beyond its own cleverness.

“We can admire the technology, but it is ultimately meaningless and damaging.”