Acclaimed Kiwi actor Jennifer Ward-Lealand is at the forefront of a global effort to protect artists from the "threat" of Artificial Intelligence.
"Let's just remember there is no such thing as an AI actor," Ward-Lealand says. "An actor is a human. The AI is just machine-learning. That is a real threat to our work."
The film director, a former New Zealander of the Year and a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, has recently added another job title to her impressive CV: a Vice President of the International Federation of Actors. It's a global umbrella body for Actors Equity, and Ward-Lealand is the first Kiwi to hold the position.
While the AI boom appears to bring with it a wealth of possibilities, the 63-year-old says it can go terribly wrong.
In one case, she says, a French actor got on a train and "heard his voice on every station".
"He'd never recorded it for them. He'd never been asked. He had never been compensated."
She says if an actor wants to sign over their voice, then that's up to them. But they should be told upfront.
"The main thing is around your voice and your likeness; you should give consent for that. And I think consent and compensation is what distinguishes innovation from exploitation."
Ward-Lealand has heard of some actors here losing opportunities to work on audiobooks because an AI alternative was preferred. She says Actors Equity NZ is now giving performers signing up for new work advice on AI.
"Making sure that we're looking in our contracts and saying, 'OK, this recording that I'm doing for the next three hours. Is there anything in that contract that says it's going to be synthesised and used again and again and again?' Because once that's done – and if you haven't been fairly compensated for – that voice can work for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years."
Helping workers in the industry bargain collectively remains unresolved. She describes the Screen Industry Workers Act 2022 as "rather toothless". It was meant to allow workers to bargain with Screen Producers NZ (SPADA), but she says so far that hasn't happened.
"We feel that going forward the Act will need to be tweaked."
And Ward-Lealand says there's another job the government can do – help create what she calls a "star system".
The system is already in place in Australia, she says.
"Toni Collette, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, the Hemsworths – it's not by accident that those people got their opportunities," she says.
"It's because the government created incentives and backed their performers. All those actors have gone off and worked in offshore productions. When they come back to work in Australia, they bring with them money because they have recognition."
She wants the Government to change the law which allows any performer, writer, director or crew to work here for up to 14 days, even if a New Zealander could do the job.
"You can do a lot of jobs in 14 days. You can shoot a movie, you can shoot a guest role in a television, you can shoot a commercial."
But the current rules reduce opportunities for Kiwi performers, who she says come from a "match-fit" talent pool.
Not that it's all gloom and doom. Ward-Lealand says recent changes to the screen rebate fund have made the industry more sustainable.
And she doesn't want to deter any young New Zealander from chasing their dreams in the performing arts. That said, she does want them to have their eyes open.
"Try to develop as many strings to your bow as you possibly can, because that is how you'll have a career.
"If you're just sitting there waiting, thinking 'I'm just going to do screen work', well... good luck.
"You need to be able to do theatre, voiceovers, maybe some Emcee work, some animated characters, work on games, all of that kind of thing, as much as you can develop your versatility, the more chance you'll have."
Ward-Lealand says young people should bear in mind that about 85 to 90% of actors are out of work at any one time. "That is the nature of the beast."
But she suggests a helpful way of approaching the job. "I'm not going to say, 'I'm out of work'. I'm going to say, 'I'm available to producers'. That's a very good way of putting it."
Ward-Lealand is currently preparing for the role of former Prime Minister Helen Clark in Fiona Samuel's play Helen Clark in Six Outfits. The play opens at the Auckland Theatre Company in April.
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