Cate Blanchett has co-founded a new non-profit company, RSL Media, which helps provide a human consent framework for AI’s use of creative work, name, image and likeness.
Advocates and supporters include Javier Bardem, George Clooney, Viola Davis, Tom Hanks, Dame Helen Mirren, Steven Soderbergh, Kristen Stewart, Meryl Streep, Dame Emma Thompson, Creative Artists Agency and the Music Artists Coalition.
RSL Human Consent Standard, a free, public registry, launches in June and allows anyone to declare their AI permissions. The company was built around the idea that consent must come first. AI systems are using human expression, creative work and human likeness without consent. RSL Media addresses this problem by turning human consent into a signal that machines can read.
Blanchett said, “AI technologies are expanding rampantly, essentially unchecked and unregulated. In order for humans to remain in front of these technologies, consent must be the first consideration.” She added, “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.”
Nikki Hexum, co-founder and CEO of RSL Media, said, “AI can’t respect rights it can’t see, and this means human consent is virtually invisible in this new digital era. The right to decide whether AI can use your work or identity should not be reserved for only those who can afford lawyers or have platforms big enough to be heard, it is a basic human right.” Hexum added, “RSL Media was created to make those choices clear so people can set their own terms, responsible companies can honor them and policymakers have a practical way to make AI protections work in the real world.”
RSL Media allows people to determine how their identity and creative works may be used by AI systems: allowed with terms or prohibited. These choices function like a traffic light. In addition, RSL Media provides AI systems with a universal way to understand consent, solving the problem created by complex rights systems.
Blanchett has long been vocal about the dangers of AI. Earlier this year, Blanchett was one of the 700 artists, writers and creators, including Scarlett Johansson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who united behind a new anti-AI campaign calling out the tech companies exploiting copyrighted work without permission.
With RSL Media, more celebrities have spoken out, showing their support.
Thompson said, “Of course, artists and cultural creatives will inevitably be involved with AI. At the moment, however, AI is merely stealing from us all. This is an urgent and essential initiative. It’s also eminently doable, so let’s do it without delay.”
Director Steven Soderbergh said, “RSL Media has a solution to a very serious problem, and their solution is simple, transparent, and resistant to manipulation. The sooner this independent standard is adopted, the better for all involved.”
Mirren also added her support to the new initiative. “Artists have always been inspired by those who went before them, that is how culture develops and reflects the society that it is born in. Every artist knows there is an absolute divide between inspiration and imitation. The one is an extension of the imagination, and the other a block to imagination, at the same time being crass theft.”
As of today, registrants can reserve a consent ID and become a trusted partner. In June, RSL Media will launch a free public registry and be able to register and verify their identify, set permissions for their identity and creative works and more.
