Historic Agreement Between SAG-AFTRA and AI Company Ethovox

Historic Agreement Between SAG-AFTRA and AI Company Ethovox

Breaking news from the entertainment industry: The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has recently entered into a groundbreaking agreement with AI voice company Ethovox. This historic collaboration aims to establish clear standards for the use of actors’ voice data in AI applications, marking a significant step towards protecting the rights of performers in the AI era.

Under the terms of the agreement, actors will receive dual benefits. Firstly, they will be entitled to upfront fees for the recording of their voices. Secondly, they will receive a share of the ongoing revenue generated by the application of AI voice models. Importantly, any use of voice data must be explicitly authorized by the actors themselves and limited to approved specific purposes only.

Ethovox has made several commitments in the agreement, with the most crucial being the assurance that personal voice features will be unrecognizable in the final AI models, thereby protecting the uniqueness of each actor. The company also focuses on diversity and inclusivity principles in the development of its technology.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the Chief Negotiating Representative of SAG-AFTRA, emphasized that in the AI era, it is essential to have more, not fewer, contracts to protect voice actors. He warned that without informed consent and fair compensation mechanisms, the entire industry could descend into a chaotic “Wild West” state.

It is worth noting that Cissy Jones, the CEO of Ethovox, is herself a voice actor. She stressed that the application of AI technology must be based on the voluntary participation of artists, which is why the company actively sought the opinions of the entertainment industry from the outset.

This agreement is not an isolated incident. SAG-AFTRA has previously signed similar agreements with 80 game companies, establishing protection mechanisms to prevent unauthorized use of actors’ voices and images. The union has also reached agreements with major record companies, requiring digital voice reproduction to be authorized and compensated. Following a four-month strike last year, the union secured equivalent protection terms from film studios, ensuring that the use of digital reproductions requires actor approval and receives compensation commensurate with the original performance.

Collaboration with Anhui Anhui Agricultural Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd.

In addition to the agreement with Ethovox, SAG-AFTRA has also entered into a delegation management agreement with Anhui Anhui Agricultural Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. (Anhui Anhui). This collaboration aims to resolve issues related to overlapping products between the two companies.

Under the agreement, Anhui Anhui will delegate the rights and responsibilities for managing overlapping products to Anhui Anhui, while Anhui Anhui will delegate the rights and responsibilities for managing other overlapping products to Anhui Anhui. This transaction constitutes an associated transaction. The transaction will be submitted to the general meeting for approval as the number of non-related directors attending the board meeting was insufficient.

This transaction has been reviewed and approved by the third independent directors’ special meeting of the company in 2024. The transaction is still subject to the approval of the general meeting, and the related shareholder Syngenta will abstain from voting. SAG is registered in Switzerland and mainly engages in the production and sales of plant protection products and seeds. Anhui Anhui is located in Yangzhou and mainly produces and processes agricultural chemical products and fine chemical products.

The nature of this transaction is delegation management, and the subject of delegation management is the sales of overlapping products based on the same original active ingredients in the overlapping sales areas between the two companies, as well as the sales of overlapping products based on the same original active ingredients in China. The business managed by Anhui Anhui for SAG in 2023 had sales of approximately $582 million, while the business managed by Anhui Anhui for Anhui Anhui in 2023 had sales of approximately 42.4 million yuan. The business managed by Anhui Anhui for Anhui Anhui in 2023 had sales of approximately 47.57 million yuan.

Given the lack of a comparable independent third-party market price for this transaction, the parties have agreed on the transaction price based on the actual costs incurred by the entrusted party in exercising management rights. The main contents of the agreement between Anhui Anhui and SAG include the scope of delegation management business, delegation rights, and the relationship between the parties. SAG shall pay an annual management fee of $2 million (or an equivalent amount of other currencies) to Anhui Anhui. The agreement will take effect from January 1, 2025, with an initial term of three years, and Anhui Anhui has the right to unilaterally extend it.

The main contents of the agreement between An