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There is no single owner of every right in an AI-generated performance. In a U.S. film or television production, an employer may own production materials made from an actor’s work, yet a union agreement can still require the actor’s consent and additional pay before a digital replica is used. Copyright in the finished expression is a separate question: the U.S. Copyright Office says human creativity can be protected, while expressive elements determined by a machine are not protected on that basis. A platform’s rights depend on its current service contract, which must be read separately.
The practical answer therefore depends on five facts: what was created (a recording, scan, replica or generated output), who commissioned it, which performer agreement applies, exactly what use was authorized, and the governing state law. The following framework explains how to identify each right without treating “ownership” as one all-purpose label.
What “ownership” can mean
An AI performance can involve several legal interests at once. Assigning one owner to the whole result usually hides the question that actually matters.
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| Right or interest | What it covers | Typical decision point |
|---|---|---|
| Copyright in a work | Copyrightable expression in a recording, film, script, edited scene or generated output. | How much human creative authorship determined the expressive elements? |
| Production materials | Captures, scans, files and other materials created from a performer’s work for a motion picture. | What employment contract and collective agreement govern the production? |
| Voice, likeness and performance rights | Use of an identifiable performer’s voice, image, movements or acting characteristics, including a synthetic replica. | Was there informed, use-specific consent, and does the proposed use exceed it? |
| Contractual consent and payment | Permissions, residuals, session fees and replica compensation required by a union agreement or individual contract. | Which medium and agreement apply, and what use was described? |
| Platform license | Rights a generation or hosting service receives under its terms for user inputs and outputs. | What do the current service terms say about ownership, licenses, training and commercial use? |
These layers can point to different parties. A studio may own a scan as a production asset, an actor may retain contractual control over each synthetic use, a human editor may hold copyright in an arrangement, and a platform may receive a license without owning the performance itself.
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What U.S. copyright law says about the AI output
In its January 29, 2025 Part 2 report, the U.S. Copyright Office concluded that using AI as an aid, or including AI-generated material in a larger human-created work, does not automatically defeat copyright. Protection still turns on human creativity. Register of Copyrights and Director Shira Perlmutter summarized the principle: "Where that creativity is expressed through the use of AI systems, it continues to enjoy protection."
The limit is equally important. The Office said, "Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine, however, would undermine rather than further the constitutional goals of copyright." A prompt alone will not necessarily make an output a human-authored work. A fact-specific analysis asks who selected, arranged, edited, directed or transformed the expressive elements and which elements were actually determined by the system.
Examples of the human-authorship question
- A director who records an actor, chooses takes, edits timing and combines the result with human-created dialogue may contribute protectable expression even when an AI tool assists with cleanup or interpolation.
- An operator who generates a complete facial performance from a short instruction may have little or no copyright in the machine-determined expression, although a surrounding human-created film can contain protectable elements.
- Separate copyrights can exist in a script, musical score, cinematography, editing and sound design even if a synthetic performance inside the work is not independently protected.
Copyrightability does not decide who may exploit an actor’s identity. A noncopyrightable synthetic voice can still trigger contract, publicity, privacy or other state-law claims. Conversely, a copyright owner of a film may not have permission to create new performances of the actor beyond the agreed scope.
When a studio owns materials but still needs consent
SAG-AFTRA’s 2023 TV/Theatrical AI explanation states that "the employer legally owns all materials created from your work on a motion picture." That statement addresses ownership of the motion-picture materials; it is not a blanket license to generate unlimited new acting.
The same explanation says employers cannot use those materials as a digital replica without the performer’s consent and, in most cases, further payment. In other words, ownership of the source material and authorization to make a new synthetic performance are distinct. The rule described applies to the agreement and covered work at issue, not automatically to every actor, employer, country or production.
How use-specific consent works
For the 2023 TV/Theatrical terms described by SAG-AFTRA, replica use generally requires new consent for each use, subject to limited exceptions. A multi-project employment exception requires the producer to identify each episode or picture and describe the intended use with reasonable specificity. If the eventual use changes outside that description, further consent may be required.
The definitions discussed by the union cover both voice and likeness. A permission for a digital face is therefore not safely treated as permission for a cloned voice, and a permission for one scene is not automatically permission for a new sequel, advertisement or interactive game. The exact current agreement should be checked, especially because SAG-AFTRA reports that members ratified a new TV/Theatrical Agreement in June 2026 with terms that further restrict synthetics. Detailed operative language from that ratified agreement is not reproduced here, so parties should rely on the signed text for a current production.
Commercials use a different rule set
SAG-AFTRA’s June 2025 Commercials bulletin defines a digital replica as a computer program made in whole or in part from a performer’s voice, image or performance that can independently generate new performances not previously rendered by that performer.
For covered commercials, the bulletin describes several safeguards:
- Consent must be clear and conspicuous, in writing, and separate from the employment contract or in a jointly drafted rider.
- The authorization must describe the proposed use with reasonable specificity.
- Additional consent is required when the actual use exceeds that description.
- The performer must receive notice and consent before the replica is created or a generated performance is used.
- Compensation is listed as 150% of a session fee per commercial using a generated performance, plus applicable holding and use fees at scale under that contract.
Those terms belong to the Commercials agreement. They should not be imported into a television episode, feature film, game or nonunion engagement without checking the governing contract.
Interactive media and video games have their own boundaries
SAG-AFTRA’s 2025 Interactive Media Video Game Agreement resource distinguishes visual replica protections by the type of game content. Its visual-replica scope covers scripted cinematic scenes. Visual in-game material is outside those replica terms and may instead qualify for a secondary-performance payment.
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The resource also distinguishes replicas by how they are created and by the input that prompts them. A game developer should therefore map each use—cinematic, gameplay, promotional, downloadable or sequel content—to the agreement’s definitions and payment provisions. The full agreement controls a particular engagement; a film rule cannot be assumed to govern a game.
What changes when the performer has died
Death does not automatically eliminate authorization requirements. In a March 20, 2026 statement about Val Kilmer, SAG-AFTRA said the applicable collective bargaining agreement and state law required estate consent for the motion-picture replica use at issue. The union said it understood from reporting that the family’s consent had been obtained.
This is evidence that an estate may need to authorize a replica, not a universal rule for every deceased performer. The result depends on the performer’s agreement, the production, the state’s publicity or likeness law and the precise use. Obtain documented estate authority before creating or releasing a posthumous replica, and verify whether additional heirs, rights holders or contractual approvals are involved.
Can an AI platform claim ownership?
Not merely because it generated, stored or hosted the file. The Copyright Office’s Part 2 guidance addresses copyrightability, not the contract of a particular generation service. SAG-AFTRA materials address performer agreements, not platform ownership. A platform may receive a license to process, display, store or improve a service, but the scope and duration of that license are service-specific.
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Read the platform terms for these clauses
- Output ownership: whether the user, service or both are described as owning generated output.
- License grant: whether you give the service a worldwide, perpetual, sublicensable or commercial license.
- Inputs and likenesses: whether you promise that you have rights to upload a voice, face, scan or performance.
- Training and improvement: whether uploaded material or outputs may be used to train or improve models.
- Indemnity and restrictions: who bears liability for unauthorized replicas, publicity claims or infringement.
- Deletion and termination: what happens to files and licenses when an account closes.
Those clauses cannot override a performer’s consent requirement or a production contract. A user may also lack authority to grant a platform rights in an actor’s voice or likeness even if the user owns the uploaded video.
A practical decision process for a production
- Inventory the asset. Label each item as an original recording, motion-capture or facial scan, edited performance, synthetic replica, or wholly generated output. Keep the source files and the final render separate.
- Identify the commissioning relationship. Determine whether the performer was an employee, independent contractor, union member or nonunion participant, and identify the production type.
- Find the controlling documents. Gather the individual deal memo, employment contract, collective bargaining agreement, riders, releases and any prior replica authorization. Do not rely on a generic AI policy.
- Define the proposed use precisely. Write down the title, episode or picture, character, medium, territory, duration, distribution channels, promotional uses, sequel or derivative plans and whether the use is new or previously rendered.
- Test consent against that description. Compare the planned use with the authorization word by word. A changed character, scene, voice, campaign, game mode or project can be outside the original consent.
- Calculate payment obligations. Check session fees, holding and use fees, residuals, secondary-performance payments and any replica-specific amount. For covered commercials, verify the bulletin’s 150%-of-session-fee provision and scaled fees rather than applying it elsewhere.
- Analyze human authorship. Record who selected prompts, takes, edits, camera choices, timing, dialogue, compositing and final arrangement. This evidence helps evaluate copyright in the finished work.
- Review state and estate rights. Identify the governing state, publicity or likeness statutes, common-law claims and, if the performer is deceased, the estate authorization chain.
- Audit the platform contract. Save the terms in force on the upload and generation dates, including changes, and confirm that the user can grant every required license.
- Obtain written clearance before release. Keep approvals, notices, payment records, version histories and takedown procedures with the production’s rights file.
Common mistakes and how to correct them
“The studio owns the footage, so it owns the actor forever.”
Ownership of footage does not erase use-specific consent and payment rules. Correct the assumption by separating the source material from each new generated performance and checking the governing agreement for every use.
“AI output can never be copyrighted.”
The Copyright Office did not adopt that blanket rule. AI assistance can appear in a copyrightable human-created work; machine-determined expression may lack protection on that basis. Document the human creative contribution instead of relying on a slogan.
“One release covers every future project.”
Under the TV/Theatrical terms described by SAG-AFTRA, a multi-project exception requires identified episodes or pictures and a reasonably specific description. A later use outside that scope may need fresh consent.
“A platform’s terms settle the actor’s rights.”
Platform terms govern the service relationship. They do not substitute for performer consent, union payments, estate approval or state-law compliance. Preserve the terms and review them alongside production documents.
“The Val Kilmer example proves every estate owns a replica.”
The March 2026 statement shows that estate consent mattered under that agreement and state law. It does not establish a universal rule for every deceased performer or jurisdiction.
What is established—and what remains contract-specific
The strongest general conclusions are limited but useful: rights must be separated; employer ownership of motion-picture materials can coexist with replica-consent and payment requirements; consent may be use-specific; human creativity is central to copyright; and estate approval can matter for a deceased performer.
Several questions cannot be answered without documents: whether a named platform owns or merely licenses a particular output, whether a state recognizes a postmortem publicity right, what the June 2026 TV/Theatrical agreement precisely requires after its effective date, and which payment applies to a nonstandard use. SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 entertainment and media professionals, but that membership figure says nothing about how often replicas are used or who wins disputes. No verified industry-wide statistic establishes those points.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallThe U.S. Copyright Office’s AI study lists Part 1 on digital replicas, Part 2 on copyrightability of outputs and Part 3 on AI training. Its May 2025 status update said Part 3 was still pre-publication, with a final version to follow. Future guidance or contract amendments may change the analysis, so date the documents and terms used for each clearance decision.
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