SEC: Disney and Apple Must Answer Vote on AI at Annual Meetings
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has rejected requests by Apple and The Walt Disney Company to exclude calls for reports on their use of AI during their respective annual meetings.
The two companies had hoped to side-step the AI concerns raised by a pension trust of the AFL-CIO, the largest American labor union federation.
The use of AI by major studios has become a hot-button issue in Hollywood and was one of the cores of the recent writers’ and actors’ strikes.
AFL-CIO Wants Disney and Apple To Report on AI
At Apple, the AFL-CIO asked the company to report on the company’s use of AI “in its business operations and disclose any ethical guidelines that the company has adopted regarding the company’s use of AI technology.”
In a supporting statement, the group wrote that “AI systems should not be trained on copyrighted works. Or the voices, likenesses, and performances of professional performers, without transparency, consent, and compensation to creators and rights holders.”
Meanwhile, at Disney, the group asked that the board report its role in overseeing AI usage.
The Companies Wanted To Skip the Vote
Apple and Disney had both argued that the proposals could be left off their ballots because they were related to “ordinary business operations.” The use of AI, the companies argued, was simply a choice of technology.
In their judgment, however, the SEC disagreed.
“In our view, the Proposal transcends ordinary business matters and does not seek to micromanage the Company,” the agency wrote.
Apple and Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
As things stand, however, this issue of AI use will likely be voted upon at their respective company meetings.