Netflix has provoked Hollywood actors and writers on strike, after posting a job advert for an artificial intelligence (AI) expert with the job paying up to $900,000 (£700,000) per year.
The listing which The Intercept first reported on Tuesday, is one of many on the Netflix job page that calls for applicants with experience in machine learning (ML) and AI.
Though, It is unclear from the job advert whether the role will influence the TV programs and films Netflix chooses to invest in, Hollywood unions are increasingly concerned about AI affecting the entertainment industry and their pay. The utilization of AI in job postings has been subject to criticism by certain actors.
Actor Rob Delaney, told The Intercept, “So $900k/yr per soldier in their godless AI army when that amount of earnings could qualify thirty-five actors and their families for Sag-Aftra health insurance is just ghoulish.” Likewise, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, accused Netflix of “pleading poverty while recruiting VERY (more than I’ve ever made in a year BY FAR) well-paid generals for your soulless army of silicon plagiarists”.
The union representing actors, Sag-Aftra, spoke of its fears about algorithms having too much power.
Sag-Aftra’s Fran Drescher speaking to Time explained that “Algorithms dictate how many episodes a season needs to be before you reach a plateau of new subscribers and how many seasons a series needs to be on… [and] that reduces the [number] of episodes per season to between six and 10, and it reduces the [number] of seasons to three or four. You can’t live on that.”
She added, “We’re being systematically squeezed out of our livelihood by a business model that was foisted upon us, [creating] a myriad of problems for everyone up and down the ladder.”
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