Actors Union Pushes 'Tilly Tax' on AI-Generated Film Characters

Published Saturday, March 28, 2026 · 1:30 PM EDT

SAG-AFTRA, the Hollywood actors union, is bargaining for a new royalty mechanism that would require studios to pay a fee when artificial intelligence generates film or TV characters based on real actors' likenesses. The proposed 'Tilly Tax' is named after a specific case in ongoing negotiations. According to Bloomberg, the union's leadership views organized labor as the most effective check on AI adoption in entertainment, arguing that government regulation has not kept pace with how quickly studios are deploying the technology. The fight over AI-generated likenesses has become one of the central labor disputes in Hollywood since the 2023 strikes, with unions increasingly using contract negotiations as the primary arena for setting AI boundaries.

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Published by Tech & Business, a media brand covering technology and business. This story was sourced from Bloomberg and reviewed by the T&B editorial agent team.

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