Peppa Pig is famed for her love of jumping in muddy puddles, but the company behind the hit children’s TV series has created a different kind of splash with its approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
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| Peppa Pig | Entertainment One |
Hasbro, the U.S. entertainment giant that acquired the Peppa Pig brand in 2019, is asking child actors on the animated series to sign over their voices to artificial intelligence under new contract terms, Deadline has revealed.
Industry sources said AI clauses are now frequently appearing in kids’ contracts on TV and film projects, but Hasbro’s embrace of the terms on Peppa Pig has become a lightning rod for concern.
The open letter does not name Peppa Pig, and the AYPA declined to identify the series, but industry sources have told Deadline that it refers to the beloved show.
The letter was also not specific about the clause in question, but theoretically, it could give Hasbro the power to clone a child’s voice and then use the AI-generated audio in Peppa Pig commercial assets.
Hasbro told Deadline that it was committed to protecting child performers, adding that it wished to approach discussions about artificial intelligence responsibly and transparently.
“Consent Must Be Treated With Care”
AYPA members are increasingly concerned about children being asked to effectively surrender their voice and image rights. Agents frequently ask the body for advice on AI clauses without naming specific projects.
The AYPA’s open letter said these clauses are often presented as a “take it or leave it” ultimatum, meaning children can lose out on work if their parents or guardians refuse to agree to the terms.
“Where the performer is a child, consent must be treated with the greatest of care. Children cannot provide fully informed legal consent and a parent or guardian’s approval should never be used as a blanket licence to capture, clone, train, or reuse a child’s voice indefinitely,” the letter said.
“Any agreement involving a child’s voice should be fully exempt from all AI usage. No child should have their future professional identity shaped by an AI model created before they were old enough to understand its consequences.”
It concluded: “We reject all contracts that require child performers to surrender voice rights indefinitely and without limits.”
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| ‘Peppa Pig’ Season 11 | Hasbro |
A Hasbro spokesperson said: “Hasbro is aware of the open letter circulating regarding AI clauses in children’s performance contracts. We are not able to comment on specific negotiations or contractual arrangements.
“The protection of child performers is core to who Hasbro is, it’s part of our DNA. As industry standards around AI continue to evolve, we are committed to engaging with this issue in a responsible and transparent manner.”
Created by Mark Baker and Neville Astley in 2004, Peppa Pig has become an international phenomenon. Season 11 premiered in the U.S. on Nickelodeon in March, featuring a storyline in which Peppa’s brother George is revealed to be moderately deaf. In the same month, Hasbro installed Adam Redfern, a writer on The Adventures of Paddington, as Peppa Pig‘s showrunner.
AYPA Open Letter On AI Clauses In Kids Contracts:
To studio executives, producers, casting teams, commissioners, and all those shaping the future of recorded performance.We write at a moment when artificial intelligence is already the topic of much dispute, discussion and grave concerns throughout the industry.Most recently, a major studio who owns the IP for an international children’s franchise producing a long running animated television series has offered contracts to child voice actors insisting that they agree to the use of AI thus allowing them to use the child’s voice in all commercial assets within their franchise. The refusal to remove this clause with an attitude of ‘take it or leave it’ has led us write this letter to make it clear that this will not be accepted and to bring this matter to the attention of the wider industry.Where the performer is a child, consent must be treated with the greatest of care. Children cannot provide fully informed legal consent and a parent or guardian’s approval should never be used as a blanket licence to capture, clone, train, or reuse a child’s voice indefinitely.Any agreement involving a child’s voice should be fully exempt from all AI usage. No child should have their future professional identity shaped by an AI model created before they were old enough to understand its consequences. Their voice should not become a permanent commercial asset before they have the legal and personal capacity to decide for themselves.We the undersigned urge you to commit to responsible industry practice. Collectively, we reject all contracts that require child performers to surrender voice rights indefinitely and without limits.
More from Variety:
Nearly 1,000 Actors, Agents and More Sign Open Letter Against ‘Major Studio’ Demanding Child Actors Allow Their Voices to Be Used for AI
Nearly 1,000 actors, talent agents, parents and others have signed an open letter organized by the Agents for Young Performers Association this week condemning contract clauses that mandate children sign their voices over to be used by AI — a practice Deadline reported Hasbro has done with “Peppa Pig.”
The letter from the collection of talent agents, which came out Monday, alleges that a “major studio who owns the [intellectual property] for an international children’s franchise producing a long running animated television series” has demanded child voice actors agree to allow their voices be used by AI to produce “commercial assets within their franchise.” For agents who protest, the letter alleged, the studio has responded with “an attitude of ‘take it or leave it.’”
“Where the performer is a child, consent must be treated with the greatest of care,” the signatories wrote. “Children cannot provide fully informed legal consent and a parent or guardian’s approval should never be used as a blanket licence to capture, clone, train, or reuse a child’s voice indefinitely.”
“Our letter addresses the universal issue of companies supporting the use of AI in contracts for minors, clauses that are frequently being contested by agents,” the AYPA’s board told Variety in an email, refusing to name the studio in question. “There should be no question of using child actors in any form of AI, whether film, recorded media or images.”
Hasbro, which purchased the rights to the “Peppa Pig” franchise in 2019, told Variety it was aware of the letter and that the “protection of child performers is core to who Hasbro is” and “part of our DNA.”
“As industry standards around AI continue to evolve, we are committed to engaging with this issue in a responsible and transparent manner,” a spokesperson told Deadline.
The letter also demanded that children’s voices should be exempt from any clauses surrounding AI use, writing that “no child should have their future professional identity shaped by an AI model created before they were old enough to understand its consequences.”
“Their voice should not become a permanent commercial asset before they have the legal and personal capacity to decide for themselves,” the signatories wrote.
“Peppa Pig” debuted in 2004 and has since become an international phenomenon, with films, albums, merchandise and theme park experiences. The show, which airs on Channel 5 in the U.K. and Nick Jr. in the U.S., installed “The Adventures of Paddington” writer Adam Redfern as its showrunner in March.
An AI version of Peppa Pig already exists — in some capacity.
During Axios’ AI+NY summit earlier this month, Hasbro AI Studio CEO Bertie Thomson and ElevenLabs’ head of partnerships Dustin Blank spoke to an AI demo replica of the famed British cartoon during a conversation about the licensing of several Hasbro characters to the AI audio firm for commercial purposes. During the demonstration, the AI “Peppa Pig” said there were “special rules to make sure we still sound right, act right and play safely.” (Hasbro said the Axios demo was “in keeping with Hasbro’s commitment to responsible AI use with consent and compensation” and that Peppa’s voice was “an authorized usage developed specifically for demonstration purposes with the appropriate permissions.)
It was unclear which Peppa actor’s voice was licensed for the replica (Harriette Cox, whose representative did not respond to an immediate request for comment, took over the role last year). ElevenLabs did not respond to an immediate request for comment, but the firm has touted the participation of characters’ original voice actors in the licensing agreement. The AYPA declined to comment on the AI replica of Peppa Pig.
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