AI Actors: Digital Replicas, Consent and What Changes Next

AI actors, both fully AI-generated performers and digital replicas of real actors, moved from science fiction to the bargaining table in 2023, when background actors from Disney’s WandaVision told NPR that their faces and bodies had been scanned to create digital duplicates. Three years later the question is no longer whether AI performers exist. It’s who controls them, who gets paid, and what the contracts and laws now say.

This guide explains what AI actors are, how AI-generated actors differ from digital replicas, where the fight started, what the rules look like in October 2026, and what it all means if you make films.

What Are AI Actors?

“AI actor” is a loose label that covers three different things:

• Synthetic performers: characters generated by AI that don’t depict any one real person. The best-known is Tilly Norwood, created in 2025 by Dutch producer Eline Van der Velden’s AI studio Particle6 and its talent arm Xicoia. SAG-AFTRA’s contracts now call these “synthetics.”
• Digital replicas: AI- or scan-based recreations of a real performer’s face, body or voice. They can be made from a scan on set, from existing footage, or from audio, and used to de-age an actor, fill a crowd, or redo a line.
• AI avatars and presenters: stock digital hosts used in ads, training and social videos. They rarely appear in feature films, but they’re where many people first meet an “AI actor.”

The distinction matters because the rules are different for each. A replica uses a specific person’s likeness, so consent and pay attach to that person. A synthetic performer has no single human behind it, which is exactly why unions argue it is built from many performers’ work without permission.

AI-Generated Actors vs Digital Replicas

Under SAG-AFTRA’s 2026 TV/Theatrical terms, a producer who wants a synthetic in a human role has to show it adds “significant additional value” compared with both a human performer and a digital replica of one (more below).

The WandaVision Scans: Where the Fight Started

The most cited early case came from background actor Alexandria Rubalcaba. Four weeks into working as an extra on the Disney+ series WandaVision, which was shot during the pandemic, she told NPR that the crew sent her to a tractor trailer on set. Dozens of other background actors were brought in too, and one by one they stood in front of cameras mounted on metal rigs behind glass.

The process, photogrammetry, builds a detailed 3D model from many photos taken from different angles. Rubalcaba recalled the instructions: “Have your hands out. Have your hands in. Look this way. Look that way. Let us see your scared face. Let us see your surprised face.” Each scan took about 15 minutes, and then a digital replica existed.

What she wasn’t told was how, or whether, that replica would ever be used, and she said she would never be paid for it. Rubalcaba, who earned the SAG-AFTRA background rate of $187 a day, told NPR she did not give permission for her replica to be used in the background of any scenes. All five background actors NPR interviewed said they had been caught off guard by studio body scans in the preceding months. Most said they had signed non-disclosure agreements and felt they couldn’t refuse without risking future work.

Those accounts landed in the middle of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, where AI and digital replicas had become one of the central issues. When talks broke down again in October 2023, the union accused the studios of “bully tactics”; besides AI, the main sticking point was a share of streaming revenue (Variety). The strike lasted 118 days, from July 14 to November 9, 2023.

Digital Replicas: Usage and Pay

In 2023 the open questions were simple and urgent: could unions negotiate separate pay for replicas, what would fair compensation look like, and would background acting survive? Since then, contracts and laws have started to answer them.

What the 2023 strike won

The strike ended in late 2023 with the first contract safeguards on how studios can create and use performers’ digital likenesses and performances. A separate year-long strike by video game performers also centered on AI; the contract they approved in July 2025 requires employers to get written permission before creating a digital replica, according to the Associated Press.

The 2026 contract and “synthetics”

SAG-AFTRA members ratified a new four-year TV/Theatrical Agreement on June 4, 2026, by 91.42%. It runs from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2030, and tightens both halves of the issue. According to SAG-AFTRA’s FAQ on the 2026 agreement:

• Producers can’t use a synthetic without first giving notice and bargaining with the union, and SAG-AFTRA can take violations to arbitration for damages.
• Producers agree to a principle “strongly favoring human performances.”
• They don’t intend to put a synthetic in a role a human would otherwise play unless it brings “significant additional value”, and they have to show that value against what a digital replica of a human could do, not just against a human on set.

The contract doesn’t define “significant additional value,” so expect the first disputes to test it.

State and federal law

• California (signed September 17, 2024): AB 2602 makes a contract clause that lets a digital replica replace a performer’s in-person work unenforceable unless it describes the intended uses specifically and the performer had a lawyer or union representing them. AB 1836 requires an estate’s consent before a commercial digital replica of a deceased performer is used (Governor of California).
• New York: since June 9, 2026, advertisers who know an ad contains an AI-generated synthetic performer must disclose it conspicuously. A companion law requires heirs’ or executors’ consent for commercial use of a deceased person’s likeness.
• Federal: the NO FAKES Act, which would create a federal right over AI replicas of a person’s voice and likeness, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in June 2026. Its sponsors tried to pass it by unanimous consent on September 30, 2026, but Sen. Ted Cruz objected over satire and political-commentary exceptions, so it hasn’t become law yet (Deadline). For what these rules mean for your own project, see is it legal to make a movie with AI.

What writers won

Writers fought a parallel battle. Under the WGA’s 2023 contract, AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, AI-generated text can’t be treated as source material that lowers a writer’s credit or pay, companies must disclose when material they hand a writer was AI-generated, and a writer can choose to use AI tools with the company’s consent but can’t be required to.

WGA members ratified a new contract on April 24, 2026, by 90.38%, running from May 2, 2026, to May 1, 2030 (WGA announcement). According to the WGA summary, it keeps all of the 2023 AI protections, including the companies’ duty to meet with the Guild at least twice a year, on request, about how they use generative AI. The new requirement: companies must give the Guild written notice if they license writers’ scripts to train a commercial AI system, after which the Guild can ask to discuss the license, including pay for writers.

AI Actors in Movies Today

AI-generated actors still haven’t carried a major studio release, but AI-assisted performance is already on screen:

• Here (2024): Robert Zemeckis used Metaphysic’s generative AI tools to age and de-age Tom Hanks and Robin Wright across decades, with a live face-swap on set so the director and actors could see the younger versions as they shot (Ars Technica).
• The Brutalist (2024): the Oscar-winning film used AI on the Hungarian dialogue spoken by Adrien Brody’s and Felicity Jones’ characters, and the revelation set off an industry debate (AP).
• El Eternauta (2025): Netflix said this Argentine series was the first of its originals to put generative-AI final footage on screen: a building-collapse VFX shot. That’s AI in the effects pipeline, not an AI performer.
• Tilly Norwood: after the September 2025 backlash, when SAG-AFTRA said “‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers — without permission or compensation,” Particle6 announced in July 2026 that she’ll lead Misaligned, a comedy-drama it calls an AI feature film. It’s in early development with no release date (Variety). A September 18, 2026 TV appearance went viral when the “Tilly” on screen switched languages mid-interview; Particle6 said that was a separate chat tool, not the character that will appear in the film.

An earlier flashpoint: Nicolas Cage in The Flash

Nicolas Cage’s cameo as Superman in The Flash (June 2023) became another flashpoint over digital likeness. In a November 2023 interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Cage said he spent about three hours on set filming a silent scene, but the finished film showed a de-aged, computer-generated version of him fighting a giant spider: “I did not do that.” He said he didn’t think AI was used, calling it CGI, but the episode showed how little say a performer can have over a digital version of themselves.

For a wider view of where AI is showing up across production, see AI in film.

What AI Actors Mean for Filmmakers

The fear behind AI replacing actors is real, especially for background performers, who often start careers in the background and depend on day rates. For filmmakers, the practical takeaway is that likeness now comes with paperwork:

1. Get consent in writing, and make it specific. If you scan, record or recreate a performer, describe exactly how the replica will be used. In California, vague replica clauses can be unenforceable.
2. Check your union obligations. On SAG-AFTRA productions, using a synthetic means notice and bargaining first, and you’ll need to justify it against both a human and a replica.
3. Don’t assume a tool’s licence covers a real person. A commercial-use licence from an AI tool covers your outputs under that tool’s terms. It doesn’t clear the likeness, voice or IP of a real person you prompt it to depict.
4. Disclose where the law requires it. New York ads with synthetic performers must say so, and audiences increasingly expect it elsewhere.
5. Budget for the human version. For many projects, especially low-budget ones, casting real actors is still simpler legally, and often better on screen.

The central questions from 2023 (consent, pay, and whether background work survives) now have partial answers in contracts and state law. The next tests are how “significant additional value” gets interpreted, whether Congress passes a federal likeness right, and whether audiences actually want to watch a film with no human on screen.

FAQ

Which movies use AI actors?

No major studio film has starred a fully AI-generated actor yet. Films have used AI on real actors’ performances instead: Here (2024) de-aged Tom Hanks and Robin Wright with AI, and The Brutalist (2024) used AI on Hungarian dialogue. Tilly Norwood’s Misaligned is announced but in early development.

Is Netflix using AI actors?

Netflix has confirmed using generative AI for final footage in El Eternauta (2025), but for a building-collapse visual effect, not a performer. Any studio using a synthetic performer on a SAG-AFTRA production has to give the union notice and bargain first.

Are AI movies real actors?

Sometimes. Many “AI” characters still start with a human: a performer’s scan, motion or voice drives the digital version (a digital replica). Fully synthetic performers like Tilly Norwood aren’t based on one person, but they’re built from models trained on many people’s work, which is the core of the union objection. If you're making a film with AI performers, our guide to the AI-generated movie covers how today's projects are built.

Can AI replace actors?

AI can now generate convincing faces, voices and short performances, and that puts the most pressure on background and voice work. Contracts and laws are pushing back: the 2026 SAG-AFTRA agreement favors human performance and requires bargaining before a synthetic is used, and several states require consent for replicas. Hollywood has imagined this for decades; our list of movies about artificial intelligence traces it from HAL 9000 on.