Meta is reportedly offering millions to use Hollywood voices in AI projects

Meta’s future artificial intelligence product could let you chat with celebrities. In accordance with Bloomberg again The New York Times, the company is interviewing Awkwafina, Judi Dench and Keegan-Michael Key, among other celebrities from different Hollywood agencies for its AI projects. The company apparently aims to add their voice to the AI-slash-digital assistant conversation called MetaAI, similar to Siri and Google Assistant.

Meta plans to record their voices and secure the right to use them in as many contexts as possible across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Bloomberg He says that the negotiations have started and stopped many times, because both parties cannot agree on the terms of use. At the moment, they seem to be fixed on the time limit, which means that any word the company records can only be used for a set period of time. However, deals with actors may be renewed or extended when their contract expires.

Actors’ representatives are still looking to negotiate tighter restrictions, although SAG-AFTRA has reportedly reached an agreement with Meta on terms. SAG-AFTRA, if you’ll recall, fought for provisions to protect actors from losing their jobs due to AI when they went on strike last year. Under those terms, the company would have to pay players and get their consent before it could use their AI-generated likenesses. If Meta reaches a deal with the actors it talks to, it could pay them millions of dollars.

Meta is looking to finalize deals ahead of its Connect conference in September, The Times he says, where a number of AI products are expected to be launched. At the same event last year, the company also launched a chat platform with 28 “characters” featured by celebrities, including Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Dwyane Wade and Kendall Jenner. Information reports that Meta recently quietly scrapped that project, and celebrity chatbots’ Facebook and Instagram pages are no longer available.

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