How does SAG-AFTRA's 2026 MOA define a 'Synthetic' performer made with generative AI, what notice/bargaining timeline does it set, and what does it say about training-data licences?

The 2026 MOA defines a Synthetic performer by four elements (not recognisable as an identifiable performer, not voiced by a natural person, not a digital replica, no employment arrangement for the role). Using one in a human role requires that it bring significant additional value, prior written notice and a ten-business-day meeting, with outer limits and arbitration limited to remuneration paid to the union health or pension plan; that paragraph expires 30 June 2030 (producer reading for the expiry and facial-feature consent rule). Curator qualifications: Contract text read 2026-10-22; marked-up agreement (deleted and inserted words appear together in extraction); not legal advice. Extraction runs the 'significant additional value' sentence together with older 'notice and opportunity to bargain' wording (marked-up text), as the producer notes. Limitations: Contract text read 2026-10-22; marked-up agreement (deleted and inserted words appear together in extraction); not legal advice. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://amptp.org/wp-content/themes/amptp/assets/pdf/SAG-AFTRA/2026%20SAG-AFTRA%20Memorandum%20of%20Agreement%20FULLY%20EXECUTED%202026-05-27.pdf",
      "note": "MOA Attachment D Section 64.1 preamble and A.(1)(i)-(iv)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20250515133416id_/https://www.sagaftra.org/sites/default/files/sa_documents/Contract%20Bulletin%20-%20A.I.%20Synthetic%20Performer%20vs%20Digital%20Replicas.pdf",
      "note": "MOA Attachment D Section 64.1 preamble and A.(1)(i)-(iv)"
    }
  ]
}