SAG-AFTRA on AI Protections, No FAKES Act and the 2028 Pension Merger

Someone created a deep fake video of SAG-AFTRA's chief negotiator saying false things about the union's own contract during the 2023 ratification vote. Tens of thousands of people saw it before Instagram took it down five days later. It is the kind of story that explains why the fight for AI protections in the entertainment industry matters far beyond Hollywood. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland discusses a ratified 2026 contract that achieved what the 2023 strike demanded — without another strike. He walks through the contract's two-tiered AI protections covering both digital replicas of real performers and the use of synthetics — AI-generated performances with no human source — and explains the bipartisan No FAKES Act moving through Congress that could give every American a legal right in their own image and voice for the first time. He also discusses the planned merger of the SAG Producers Pension Plan and the AFTRA Retirement Fund, set for early 2028, which will provide retirement benefits to nearly 1,000 SAG-AFTRA members per year who currently earn enough across both plans to qualify but not enough in either one to collect. Visit sagaftra.org for more.