Oi! UK performers union plans mass data requests to expose AI training theft

Equity, the UK’s performing arts union, has threatened mass direct action against tech and entertainment companies using its members’ images, voices, and likenesses in AI content without permission. The union represents 50,000 performers and plans to coordinate large-scale data access requests to force companies to disclose whether they’ve used members’ personal data in AI-generated material without consent.

What you should know: Equity is escalating its fight against unauthorized AI use by leveraging data protection laws to create pressure on tech companies.

• The union plans to help members submit subject access requests en masse, which legally require companies to respond within one month about what personal data they hold.
• General Secretary Paul W Fleming said companies “became very willing to start discussing compensation and usage” when faced with these requests, suggesting the tactic is already proving effective.
• Under UK data protection law, organizations must provide all information they hold about individuals when requested, creating significant administrative burden for companies using scraped data.

The big picture: This represents one of the first coordinated union responses to the widespread use of performer data in AI training without consent.

• Fleming acknowledged that while it’s “not a silver bullet,” the mass request strategy aims to make it “so hard for tech companies and producers to not enter into collective rights” agreements.
• The union has been negotiating with Pact, the UK production trade body, for over a year about AI, copyright, and data protection issues.

Key case driving action: Scottish actor Briony Monroe believes her image was used to create “AI actor” Tilly Norwood by AI talent studio Xicoia.

• Monroe, 28, from East Renfrewshire, said she recognized not just her facial features but her specific acting mannerisms in the digital character’s performance.
• “I move my head quite a lot when I’m acting. I noticed in the last few seconds of Tilly’s show reel, that is exactly what she did,” Monroe explained.
• Particle6, which launched Xicoia, denied using Monroe’s likeness and stated: “Tilly was developed entirely from scratch using original creative design.”

Growing complaint patterns: Most member complaints to Equity involve AI-generated voice replicas rather than visual deepfakes.

• Industrial official Liam Budd noted voice replication is “much easier” technology that doesn’t require many recordings to create convincing replicas.
• The Tilly Norwood case represents a new challenge as “we haven’t really seen the launch of a wholly synthetic actor” before.

Industry tensions: Production companies face pressure to adopt AI technology while unions demand transparency about data sources.

• Max Rumney, Pact’s deputy chief executive, said members need AI technology to remain competitive but acknowledged “foundational models have been trained without permission on the films and programmes of our members.”
• Fleming claimed industry bosses “privately admit that it is impossible to ethically use AI because it has been scraped and trained on data where the provenance is at best unclear.”

What they’re saying: Union leaders emphasize the ethical and legal problems with current AI training practices.

• “AI companies need to know that we will be putting in these subject access requests en masse,” Fleming warned. “If an individual member reasonably believes that their data is being used without their consent, we want to find out.”
• Fleming added: “Nine times out of 10, we know it’s been used completely outside of the existing copyright and data protection framework.”