Sag-Aftra deal with AI voice startup Narrativ will be a boon for advertising, experts say

Founded in 2022, Narrativ enables advertisers to create audio ads with the help of AI tools. Under the new agreement, the company will allow Sag-Aftra members to join its database, where they can be paired with advertisers interested in using their voices in commercial projects.

Actors will be able to set their preferences for the kinds of projects they’re open to and independently negotiate compensation, so long as the fee isn’t lower than Sag-Aftra’s minimum rate agreement with advertisers.

“Not all members will be interested in taking advantage of the opportunities that licensing their digital voice replicas might offer and that’s understandable. But for those who do, you now have a safe option,” said the union’s national executive director and chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.

Crabtree-Ireland said that the AI firm “agreed to” the union’s terms and that “its platform is an excellent example of how AI can be ethically used by putting compensation, informed consent and control in the hands of individual performers.”

The news comes just months after the union’s longest-ever strike – a four-month period in which Hollywood stars demanded better residuals agreements from streaming platforms and production companies and sought protections against some uses of AI and digital manipulation.

The arrangement was jointly crafted by Sag-Aftra and Narrativ and includes stringent conditions around informed consent, fair compensation and other protections.

“We shaped the offering in partnership with Sag-Aftra,” Narrativ co-founder Ben Gottdiener tells The Drum. He says he’s confident that the arrangement will benefit actors and meet the union’s demands for what it’s called “crucial AI guardrails.”

“One of the main elements that we tackled together was setting minimum prices that reflect the current audio commercials contract,” explains Gottdiener. “Add in the consent requirements – [which allow] talent to review every ad generated – and the control around the license term, [where] there’s no such thing as an indefinite license period [because] we max out at two years, and we think we’ve created a platform that turns AI into a tool that can help talent. It makes them more accessible not only to large brands but smaller ones too, now that their likeness can be licensed ad infinitum.”

Plus, the offering comes with perks for participation. For example, every ad created through the platform will contribute to the performer’s pension and health benefits, further supporting their financial security.

And Gottdiener is bullish on the possibilities presented for advertisers, too. “This will allow marketers to generate more creative and yield higher returns on investment as they learn which voices and personalities most resonate with a particular end-audience. This has never been done in a systematic way until now.”

Media industry leaders believe the arrangement represents a positive step forward for both labor and the ad industry. “While concerns abound that AI may jeopardize the likenesses and livelihoods of actors, this agreement is a proactive step towards safeguarding their voices while opening doors to new opportunities brought about by AI,” says Dr Shawn DuBravac, a futurist, tech writer and the former chief economist for the Consumer Technology Association.

“Although AI is often perceived as a tool for cost-cutting and boosting efficiency, its most compelling potential lies in driving revenue growth,” he goes on. “This partnership exemplifies how aligning AI’s growth prospects with the interests of those behind the scenes can create mutually beneficial outcomes.”

It’s a notion echoed by others, like Alex Persky-Stern, chief executive of Waymark, an AI-powered video-generation platform, who says the partnership is “a positive step in making sure AI is a creative accelerator, not a creative replacement.“ Generative AI, he says, “is at its best when it’s opening up new creative opportunities, and this deal does exactly that: it opens new opportunities for performers to get paid and new opportunities for marketers to access professional talent.“

And for advertisers, DuBravac says, “AI voice replication enables [the creation of] more personalized campaigns at scale. With the ability to generate custom voiceovers quickly, brands could tailor messages to different demographics or even individual customers, leading to more effective and engaging advertising.”

The use of AI-generated voices may even help advance the forms that advertising takes in the near future, DuBravac predicts. The technology could potentially give way, he says, to “new forms of interactive and dynamic advertising, where AI-driven voices engage with consumers in real-time, adjusting messaging based on context and behavior.”

Sag-Aftra’s National Executive Committee has endorsed the deal, signaling its acknowledgment of AI’s place in the future of commercial creativity.

The partnership between Sag-Aftra and Narrativ is the first of its kind. And Gottdiener is hopeful that it will grow from here. “We want to expand a bit in audio, adding features like multi-voiced ads, sound effects and background music,” he says.

Narrativ is eyeing video, too, for the potential licensing of celebrity likenesses for commercial projects. But Gottdiener notes that the company “wants to be careful with how we approach it” and says that it intends to implement “strict controls around the type of video that can be created, and compensate talent using minimum rates for an on-screen ad.”

This agreement with Narrativ is part of a broader strategy by the union to establish robust and ethical standards for the use of AI in media and advertising.

“It’s great to see tech and human creativity combined in a way that prioritizes consent,“ says Waymark’s Persky-Stern. “It looks like a win for actors, the industry and ethical AI use everywhere.“

For more, sign up for The Drum’s daily newsletter here.