{"id":505882,"date":"2025-10-17T04:10:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T04:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/505882\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T04:10:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T04:10:12","slug":"hollywood-agents-say-sam-altman-double-crossed-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/505882\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood agents say Sam Altman double-crossed them"},"content":{"rendered":"

The AI industry has long seen the concept of copyrights as a stumbling block<\/a> to overcome rather than a hard-and-fast boundary. (Just look at any of the dozens<\/a> of<\/a> lawsuits<\/a> that have been filed by creative industries around the world over the past year and change.) It seems the situation has gone from bad to worse. In the lead-up to the release of OpenAI\u2019s Sora 2 video generator, a bacchanal of copyright infringement that allows users to generate clips using faces and characters from a range of recognizable IP, Sam Altman reportedly gave major Hollywood agencies the runaround in a way that was \u201cvery calculated\u201d and \u201cpurposely misleading.\u201d These allegations come from agents at CAA, UTA, WME, and some other top agencies who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter<\/a> about the contentious negotiations they had with the OpenAI founder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the outlet, Altman told some agencies their clients would have to opt in for their likenesses to be used by the program, while he told others their clients would automatically be included and they\u2019d have to opt out instead. \u201cWe started exchanging notes with others having similar conversations and realized we\u2019re all hearing different things,\u201d an anonymous agency executive shared. While WME was reportedly told that its clients\u2019 likenesses wouldn\u2019t be used without permission (a win for the agency after it was initially told clients would have to individually opt out), studios, on the other hand, must individually flag all properties they don\u2019t want to be used.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This confusing system seems to have worked\u2014at least in OpenAI\u2019s favor. At one point, Sora 2 was spitting out content featuring characters from Bob\u2019s Burgers, SpongeBob SquarePants, Gravity Falls, Pok\u00e9mon, Grand Theft Auto, and Red Dead Redemption, among many others, THR reports. \u201cThis was a very calculated set of moves he made,\u201d the agency exec said. \u201cThey knew exactly what they were doing when they released this without protections and guardrails.\u201d<\/p>\n

While these agencies haven\u2019t filed litigation as of this writing, talks are reportedly underway. CAA, UTA, and WME have all circulated memos saying that they\u2019ve told OpenAI that none of their clients would be participating in the AI tool, and the MPAA even issued a rare statement<\/a> denouncing the company\u2019s copyright violating policies. Opting out is easier said than done, however. Multiple sources told THR that there\u2019s currently no formal mechanism to do so. Instead, individual properties are taken down one by one by way of a link that \u201cacts more like a mechanism for reporting infractions,\u201d according to the exec, who noted that it was a slow and cumbersome process. They also pointed out that OpenAI had no dedicated staff responsible for instituting copyright guardrails when Sora 2 was launched, although it has since added a few. Now, many are of the belief that entering into talks with OpenAI \u201cwill now and forever put the onus on them to notify the company that their intellectual property can\u2019t be used.\u201d \u201cThey\u2019re turning copyright on its head,\u201d said Rob Rosenberg, a partner at legal advisory firm Moses Singer and former Showtime Networks executive\u202fVP. \u201cThey\u2019re setting up this false bargain where they can do this unless you opt out. And if you didn\u2019t, it\u2019s your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n