If you, like me, are concerned by the sheer amount of Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated images circulating online, then we both have a new hero: Cate Blanchett.
The Oscar-winning Australian actress recently launched the Human Consent Registry with a powerful speech to the European Parliament in Brussels. This registry was developed by Cate Blanchett’s nonprofit organisation, RSL Media.
Many other notable names have supported the registry and RSL Media, including The Weekly‘s sometime cover star Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Viola Davis, Javier Bardem, Tom Hanks, Kristen Stewart and Steven Soderbergh.
RSL Human Consent Standard is a free online platform that enables people to control how and if their identity can be used by AI. For instance, to prevent companies from using the likenesses of actors whose faces, bodies and voices are recorded in film and television productions in AI-creations. But not only to use their likeness, but also to use their creative work, including writings and artwork.
The mission of RSL Media is to allow people to give their consent.
“To find a path between unbridled enthusiasm and the dangers of AI, we need safeguards based on consent,” Cate said in her speech in Brussels. “Not to prevent technological progress, heaven forbid, but safeguards that can evolve at scale and at the same pace as the technology itself. Safeguards that protect our human rights,
RSL Media enables AI systems to recognise whether a person has given their permission for their likeness or creative work to be used.
“AI technologies are expanding rampantly, essentially unchecked and unregulated,” Cate continued. “In order for humans to remain in front of these technologies, consent must be the first consideration.”
“RSL Media is a simple, effective and free solutions-based technology for facilitating and activating consent. It’s also the industry’s first practical solution where people everywhere, not just public figures, can assert control over how their work is used by AI.”
This is the latest move from Cate Blanchett in her mission to protect creative works and people from AI. She joined 700 artists and creators in an anti-AI campaign, “Stealing Isn’t Innovation“, calling out companies using artists’ works without permission.
