WME opts clients out of AI video tool

As anxieties among Hollywood talent increase surrounding artificial intelligence, Beverly Hills talent agency WME is drawing a line on behalf ofits clients.

- By WENby LEE

TALENT agency WME refused to let its clients' likenesses be used in OpenAI's text-to-video tool Sora.

ETIENNE LAURENT For The Times

WME told San Francisco-based OpenAl that it is opting all of its clients out of the latest update to Sora, the AI startup’s text-to-video tool. The decision essentially puts OpenAI on notice that it’s not authorizing the company to use their clients’ likenesses or images in the latest update of the video-sharing app.

The newest version of Sora adds sound effects and dialogue to videos, depicting Olympic gymnastic routines, scuba diving and other activities.

The tool also allows people to upload a video of a human and put them into different Sora-generated environments, in a feature called “cameos.”

“Our position is that artists should have a choice in how they show up in the world and how their likeness is used and we have notified OpenAl that all WME clients be opted out of the latest Sora AI update, regardless of whether IP rights holders have opted out IP our clients are associated with,” wrote Chris Jacquemin, WME’s head of digital strategy, in a note sent to agents Wednesday.