New reporting highlights how AI adoption is moving faster than safeguards, with concrete governance proposals emerging from organized labor. At an AFL-CIO summit in Washington, SAG-AFTRA executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said collective bargaining is an effective path to regulating AI performer use, including digital replicas and “synthetic” characters. The union is pushing for economics that discourage substitution—described as a “Tilly tax”—to levy fees on synthetic performers so they cost as much as hiring human actors. SAG-AFTRA also referenced existing protections secured in ongoing negotiations, including informed consent and fair compensation for the use of digital replicas. In parallel, the story points to legislative momentum around ownership and consent for voice and likeness via a NO FAKES Act push. For higher education institutions that increasingly use AI in media, learning analytics, and campus communications, the thread to watch is compliance: consent, compensation, and data rights are becoming central requirements, not optional ethics guidelines.