Feels like 1997. I'm a little bit surprised it took 25 years for the legal parts of this to come to a head.

https://www.salon.com/1997/07/08/media_49/

Until recently, stars could not foresee that technology would enable the use of their screen work for any reason other than the intended purpose. As today's actors become aware of this, legal experts profess, their wills could become more specific as to how they want to be cast after the final curtain has fallen. But even the most protective of estates may not be prepared for today's body-snatching technologies.

"People are working on totally digital models of people," says Joseph Beard, professor of law at St. John's University and author of "Casting Call at Forest Lawn: The Digital resurrection of Deceased Entertainers" (High Technology Law Journal, 1993). "Instead of cutting them out of an existing film, you'll be able to create a Marilyn Monroe and not rely on old films in order to put her in something new."

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The AMPTP has doubled down on AI—a contentious issue within the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike—with its latest “final offer” for the actors’ union.

In the battle surrounding the use of AI, which even President Biden has now sided on, things are heating up as the AMPTP continues to try and secure performers’ likenesses in perpetuity.

The Hollywood Reporter was told by multiple union sources that SAG-AFTRA would not accept the AI clause included in the offer: “The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is seeking to secure AI scans for Schedule F performers—guild members who earn more than the minimum for series regulars ($32,000 per TV episode) and feature films ($60,000).

SAG-AFTRA is seeking to attach a compensation for the re-use of AI scans as AMPTP member companies would also need to secure consent from the performer.

The language currently in the AMPTP’s offer would see the studios and streamers secure the right to use scans of deceased performers without the consent of their estate or SAG-AFTRA.”

Basically, while actors are alive there’s some consent across the board, but that ends once they have died, allowing the studios complete ownership of their likeness—which is truly some ghoulish villainy right there.

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