No single party automatically owns every right in an AI-generated performance. A studio may own motion-picture materials made from an actor’s work, yet a union agreement can still require the actor’s specific consent and additional payment before a digital replica is used. Copyright in the generated expression is a separate question, and a platform’s rights depend on its current service terms.
The practical answer turns on what was created, who commissioned it, the performer’s contract and union coverage, the exact proposed use, whether the performer is living, the governing state law, and the terms of any AI service. This is a U.S.-centered explanation, not a determination of any particular contract or dispute.
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Why “ownership” is the wrong single question
An AI performance can involve several legally distinct assets. Calling one party “the owner” can hide a conflict between copyright, contract, publicity, and consent rights.
| Right or asset | What it covers | Who may control it |
|---|---|---|
| Production material | Recordings, scans, motion-capture data, and other material created from an actor’s work for a picture | The employer may own it under the applicable employment arrangement or collective bargaining agreement. |
| Copyright in expression | Copyright in a recorded or generated audiovisual work and its human-created elements | Depends on human authorship, commissioning and employment rules, and other copyright facts. |
| Voice, face, likeness, or replica | The ability of a system to generate a new performance resembling a particular person | Contract and state publicity or likeness law may protect the performer or estate even when the employer owns source material. |
| Consent and payment | Permission for a defined synthetic use, plus session, use, holding, residual, or replica payments | Usually governed by the performer’s contract and, for covered union work, the applicable union agreement. |
| Platform license | What an AI service may do with prompts, uploads, outputs, storage, and account data | Set by that service’s current terms; no universal platform ownership rule applies. |
These layers can point to different parties at the same time. A production company could own a scan as a work-for-hire asset, an actor could retain contractual approval over a digital replica, and a generated scene could contain human-authored material alongside machine-determined expression.
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Motion pictures: employer ownership is not a blank check
What the SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical explanation says
SAG-AFTRA’s 2023 TV/Theatrical AI resource states: “The employer legally owns all materials created from your work on a motion picture.” That addresses ownership of the materials, not every later use of a replica made from them.
The same explanation says an employer cannot use those materials as a digital replica without the performer’s consent and, in most cases, further payment. The consent requirement is a contractual limit on how the employer can exercise otherwise applicable rights. It is therefore possible for the employer to own the underlying material while lacking permission for a particular synthetic performance.
Consent is tied to each use
For the 2023 TV/Theatrical terms described by the union, replica use generally requires new consent for each use, subject to limited exceptions. A release that simply says “all media, forever” should not be assumed to satisfy a later, separately negotiated synthetic-use requirement when the agreement calls for more specificity.
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For the employment-based multi-project exception, the producer must identify each episode or picture and describe the intended replica use with reasonable specificity. If the eventual use changes beyond that description, further consent may be required. The relevant definitions cover both voice and likeness, not only a face replacement.
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Questions a production should answer before generating a replica
- Which agreement governs the engagement: TV/Theatrical, commercials, interactive media, or an individual contract?
- What exact source material will be used: voice recordings, facial scans, motion capture, prior footage, or a combination?
- Which picture, episode, scene, territory, medium, and release period are identified?
- Does the proposed output stay within the description previously approved?
- What new-performance, use, holding, residual, or other payments are triggered?
- Will the actor have an approval, objection, or notice right before generation or release?
Copyright in the generated result depends on human creativity
The Copyright Office’s January 29, 2025 position
The U.S. Copyright Office’s Part 2 conclusions distinguish AI used as an aid from expression whose elements are determined by a machine. AI assistance does not automatically defeat copyright. A human-authored script, direction, performance choices, editing, compositing, or other creative contribution can remain protectable even when software is involved.
By contrast, material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine is not protected on that basis. 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.” She also warned that “Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine, however, would undermine rather than further the constitutional goals of copyright.”
How to apply that distinction
Do not ask only whether an AI system was used. Ask which expressive decisions a human made and which the system made. A director who selects takes, writes dialogue, supplies detailed instructions, directs a human actor, and substantially edits the result may have protectable authorship in those contributions. A prompt that produces the expressive performance without meaningful human control may not create copyright in the machine-determined elements.
The analysis is fact-specific. It does not mean every AI-assisted performance is uncopyrightable, and it does not give an actor, studio, or platform automatic ownership of every output. Copyrightability and ownership are separate: first determine what expression is protected, then determine who owns that protected interest under the employment, commissioning, assignment, and other applicable rules.
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Commercials use a different set of terms
SAG-AFTRA’s June 2025 Commercials AI 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 the performer did not previously render.
For covered commercials, the bulletin describes several safeguards:
- Consent must be clear and conspicuous, in writing, and separate from the employment contract or placed in a jointly drafted rider.
- The authorization must describe the intended use with reasonable specificity.
- A use that exceeds that description requires additional consent.
- The performer must receive notice and give consent before the replica is created or a generated performance is used.
- A commercial using a generated performance carries compensation of 150% of the session fee, plus applicable holding and use fees at scale.
Those terms belong to that commercials contract. They should not be imported into a feature film, television episode, game, or an unrepresented performer’s deal without checking the governing documents.
Interactive media and games draw another boundary
The 2025 Interactive Media Video Game Agreement resource distinguishes visual replica protections for scripted cinematic scenes from visual in-game material. The visual-replica provisions cover scripted cinematic scenes; visual in-game material is outside those replica terms and may instead qualify for a secondary performance payment. The resource also distinguishes replicas by how they are created and what input prompted them.
Rank #4
Because the boundary depends on the game engagement and the full agreement, a producer should classify the asset before negotiating: cinematic sequence, interactive in-game content, voice-only system, or another category. A label such as “digital double” does not determine which payment or consent rule applies.
Can a studio use an actor’s digital replica after the actor dies?
Death does not create a universal free-use rule. 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.
That example shows why two documents must be checked: the agreement governing the original performance and the law of the relevant jurisdiction. Estate, publicity, likeness, contract, and copyright rules vary. The Val Kilmer statement is evidence of the requirement in that production’s circumstances, not a nationwide rule that every deceased performer’s image always requires the same process.
Does an AI platform own the performance it generates?
There is no general rule that a platform owns a performance merely because its software generated, stored, or hosted it. The Copyright Office’s guidance addresses when expression may qualify for copyright; it does not assign ownership under a particular service’s contract. SAG-AFTRA’s materials address performer agreements, not platform licenses.
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Read the platform terms in force on the date of use. Look for clauses covering:
- ownership or license of user inputs, including recordings, scans, scripts, and biometric information;
- rights in outputs and whether the license is exclusive, transferable, perpetual, or worldwide;
- training, model improvement, retention, and human review;
- commercial use, indemnity, publicity, and takedown procedures;
- account ownership, enterprise addenda, and conflicts with a production or union agreement.
A platform license can coexist with an actor’s consent rights and a studio’s production ownership. Conversely, a broad output license cannot cure the absence of permission to upload an actor’s voice or likeness in the first place. Platform-specific ownership remains unresolved until the actual terms, user role, inputs, and related contracts are reviewed.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A practical decision process for a production or performer
- Identify the asset. Record whether it is an original recording, scan, training reference, replica model, generated take, edited scene, or final audiovisual work.
- Map the people and entities. List the performer, employer, producer, financier, director, post-production vendors, platform account holder, and any estate representative.
- Locate the governing agreement. Determine whether the work falls under TV/Theatrical, Commercials, Interactive Media, another union agreement, or an individual contract.
- Read the authorization literally. Match the approved picture, episode, scene, character, voice or likeness, medium, territory, term, and synthetic technique to the proposed use.
- Check whether the use changed. A new project, altered scene, new medium, materially different character, or newly generated performance may exceed the original description.
- Calculate required compensation. Check replica payments, session fees, holding and use fees, residuals, secondary-performance payments, and any minimums. The 150% session-fee figure applies to the covered commercials terms described above, not automatically elsewhere.
- Separate copyright analysis. Document human creative contributions and machine-determined expression; do not treat a platform receipt or a production asset inventory as proof of copyright.
- Check death and jurisdiction issues. If the performer is deceased, identify the estate authorization and state-law requirements before generation or release.
- Preserve evidence. Keep signed riders, notices, prompts, model settings, version history, approvals, invoices, and the exact platform terms in force when the work was made.
- Escalate unresolved conflicts. An entertainment or copyright lawyer can reconcile the agreement, state law, platform terms, and proposed distribution before the replica is created.
Common scenarios compared
| Scenario | Likely controlling issue | What cannot be assumed |
|---|---|---|
| Studio creates a digital double from footage for the same film | Employer ownership plus the film agreement’s replica-consent and payment provisions | Ownership of footage does not itself prove consent to every generated scene. |
| Actor signs a rider for one episode, then the producer uses the replica in another | Whether the multi-project exception identifies each episode and describes each use specifically | A general series release necessarily covers an unlisted episode or changed use. |
| Commercial uses an AI-generated new performance | Commercials terms requiring separate written consent, notice, specificity, and stated compensation | The TV/Theatrical payment or consent rules automatically apply. |
| Game uses a replica in a scripted cinematic | Interactive Media agreement’s visual-replica provisions | Visual in-game material is governed identically to a scripted cinematic. |
| Platform generates a voice from an uploaded recording | Platform input/output license, performer authorization, and applicable contract | The platform owns the voice or the generated performance simply because it supplied the model. |
| Posthumous replica in a motion picture | Estate consent, governing agreement, and state law | One reported estate-consent example establishes a rule for every jurisdiction. |
What changed by 2026—and what remains unsettled
The Copyright Office’s AI study includes 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 at that time, with a final version to follow. Copyright guidance therefore remains an important baseline, but it does not replace a contract or state-law analysis.
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SAG-AFTRA’s AI resource page reports that members ratified a new TV/Theatrical Agreement in June 2026 and says it adds terms that further restrict synthetics. Detailed operative provisions from that ratified text should be checked before relying on the older 2023 explanations for a post-June-2026 engagement.
SAG-AFTRA says it represents approximately 160,000 entertainment and media professionals. That membership figure provides context about the union’s reach; it is not a statistic about replica ownership, usage frequency, or disputes. No verified general statistic establishes how often AI-generated performances are used or which party wins ownership conflicts.
Quick Recap
Bottom line for each party
- Actors: You may not own every recording or generated frame, but your contract, union agreement, consent rights, payment rights, and state law can restrict replica use.
- Studios and employers: You may own materials created from an actor’s work under the applicable agreement, yet still need specific consent and additional payment for synthetic performances.
- Platforms: Your rights come from your service contract and the inputs supplied by the user; generation or hosting alone does not establish ownership of the performer’s rights or all copyright in the output.
- Everyone involved: Separate material ownership, copyrightability, likeness and voice rights, consent, compensation, estate authorization, and platform licensing before approving a release.
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