In some workplace training videos, actors are being replaced by AI. NPR’s Scott Simon talks to actor Paul Clayton, who has appeared in more than 1,000 corporate acting roles.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
If you work in an office, you’ve likely had to watch a video like this one.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) I clicked on one of them and downloaded a Word file only to find it was corrupted. Little did I know I had just infected my computer with a keylogger.
SIMON: Ugh. Mandatory workplace trainings, like this one from the company Wise, are – often feature short videos with actors working through some hacking attempt or a management dilemma. But lately, in many of these videos, human actors have been replaced by artificial intelligence, like this one from the company Reality Suites.
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AI-GENERATED VOICE: Every attack you catch and report makes the entire company safer.
SIMON: And that moved us to wonder about the actors who typically do this sort of work and how they’re surviving with the rise of AI. We’re joined now by Paul Clayton, who’s performed in more than a thousand such corporate acting roles. He’s written a book about it. Mr. Clayton, thanks so much for being with us.
PAUL CLAYTON: Very nice to join you, Scott.
SIMON: You have had, as I understand it, a long career in film, television, on stage – the sitcom “Peep Show,” “Law & Order: UK” – one of my favorite series, by the way – and the Royal Shakespeare Company. How important has corporate acting been?
CLAYTON: I think corporate acting is incredibly important. One of the things that everyone knows about actors is that we’re not going to work all the time and that for many of us, it’s going to involve working in bars or waiters waiting tables or doing other things. And the corporate market has provided opportunities for actors to do other things but while using their skill set.
SIMON: But I’m going to guess, they’re not what you dream about as a young actor, but are they satisfying in their own way?
CLAYTON: They’re satisfying, I suppose, in the fact that they actually help you pay the bills, so you’re not going to be turned out on the street. And some of them, incredibly, turn out to be quite challenging. There are some people devising these videos that can come up with really good scenarios that are interesting for you to play as an actor. And I think that’s the strength of using actors to train, because, as well as these videos – of course, actors go into rooms in companies and do interactive training, and I think that’s where the skills of a human are always going to tip the balance in favor of the human being over AI.
SIMON: May I ask you if you’ve ever had to play a particularly embarrassing role?
CLAYTON: I’ve had to play quite a lot of patients in hospitals with various conditions, some rather serious and some possibly more amusing.
SIMON: May I ask, have you ever had to – I don’t know – dress up as a banana or something?
CLAYTON: I haven’t dressed as a banana. I have employed some actors who played a part of a salad for a company – so lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber. But I think I’ve escaped pretty well from the embarrassment factor.
SIMON: Are you getting fewer roles because of artificial intelligence?
CLAYTON: I think AI is filling in for some opportunities that would be employed by actors, but I think it’s not just actors. In every sector, I think we have to work with AI and not – pretend it’s not going to happen. So AI can do some things very effectively. And if you want to limit your videos to being purely instructional, informational, then AI is going to create things. If you want them to be characterful and with any level of real human interactivity, you’re going to come back to actors.
SIMON: Should the unions get involved, actors unions?
CLAYTON: The actors unions do, I think, get involved, in the fact that for a long time, they pretended it didn’t happen because it was just another job that actors sort of did on the side. But the unions have got involved. I think they offer a certain level of protection to actors. It’s much, much harder for them to do that than it is to do it, you know, in the movie world or in the TV and theater worlds. Unfortunately, it’s a gray area.
SIMON: Yeah. Are you worried, Mr. Clayton? I mean, it seems every few days I read something about how AI is just getting more realistic. And if it’s an instructional video, you know, that’s – what can I tell you? – it’s not Tom Hanks or Ralph Fiennes.
CLAYTON: No. It’s not. I don’t think we’re ever going to find Tom Hanks or Ralph Fiennes doing his instructional videos ’cause they’ve both been very lucky to have brilliant careers. But I think lots of working actors are wary of the fact that if your voice is available online – mine is available online in audio dramas and in existing advertisements that have been made – your voice can be taken and processed and turned into something that you have no control over.
SIMON: You have a magnificent voice, and I personally would believe anything you told me.
CLAYTON: Well, you’re very, very kind. I do have a magnificent voice, if you say so, Scott, but it’s a well-used voice. And I suppose that’s what makes me think, where is it being used?
SIMON: Paul Clayton is an actor, author and director. His book is called “So You Want To Be A Corporate Actor?” Thank you so much. So good to talk to you and not AI.
CLAYTON: (Laughter) Well, hopefully you notice the difference, Scott.
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