Hollywood Studios Set Their Own AI Rules as Likeness Rights Take Center Stage

Studios dictate AI terms as adoption accelerates

Hollywood's relationship with artificial intelligence has moved past the question of whether to adopt the technology and landed squarely on how to control it. Major entertainment companies including Amazon MGM, Lionsgate, Netflix, and Disney have committed significant resources to AI tools, but each is setting its own boundaries for deployment.

Brian Grazer, co-founder of Imagine Entertainment, revealed at UCLA's Entertainment Symposium that he now uses Anthropic's Claude chatbot to develop story outlines—a process that previously took up to a year but now requires roughly a week. The critical caveat: human screenwriters remain central to the workflow. "You still need a screenwriter. I always believe you need a screenwriter," Grazer said, according to details first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Jamie Byrne, president of generative AI company Promise, explained that studios and production companies approach his firm with custom usage guidelines that specify which AI models are permissible and what safeguards must be in place. "It comes down to a risk appetite," Byrne noted during a panel discussion. He characterized AI adoption as a competitive imperative, suggesting that companies failing to embrace new tools risk being left behind during technological transitions.

Ron Howard of Imagine Entertainment offered a different perspective on where limits will emerge: audience acceptance. He predicted that AI-generated content will eventually form its own distinct category, with viewers determining what they find acceptable through their consumption patterns.

Consent becomes the dividing line for digital replicas

The most contentious territory involves performer likenesses. SAG-AFTRA's recent contract negotiations established clear distinctions between authorized digital replicas—created with explicit performer consent—and fully synthetic creations. The emergence of entirely artificial performers has elevated likeness rights to a contract-level priority.

Talent agencies are responding by building infrastructure around consent and control. Creative Artists Agency has begun digitally scanning clients into what it calls the CAA Vault, creating replicas of their image, likeness, and voice while ensuring performers retain complete authority over usage.

Tammy Brandt, CAA's deputy general counsel, reported seeing increased deal activity involving digital likenesses. She acknowledged that the industry is still working out monetization models but expects audiences to encounter these replicas more frequently once economic frameworks solidify. "There's a little bit of trial and error as you go with that," Brandt said.

Why it matters

The entertainment industry's approach to AI is establishing precedents that will ripple across creative sectors. By building consent-based frameworks around digital likenesses and allowing individual studios to set their own AI guidelines, Hollywood is creating a decentralized governance model rather than waiting for universal standards. This could accelerate AI adoption while fragmenting how the technology is deployed—and potentially create competitive advantages for companies that move faster or set more permissive internal rules. The emphasis on maintaining human creative roles while using AI for acceleration may also provide a template for other industries grappling with automation concerns.

The symposium drew top entertainment lawyers and dealmakers to UCLA's Westwood campus, where these issues were debated. The Los Angeles Times first reported these details from the event.