Hollywood unions have secured a historic deal regarding AI residuals, but the moral victory is still far off. We are entering a Ghost Era where digital puppets and synthetic stars like Tilly Norwood threaten to replace the warmth of human performance. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA are right to demand that work remains a human endeavour. When we allow algorithms to mimic the human face and voice, we diminish the dignity of the person and the value of real craft.

Work is not merely a production of data; it is an expression of character, experience, and soul. To tax a synthetic actor is a pragmatic step, but we must be careful not to commodify the human essence in the process. We must resist any future where our culture becomes a loop of simulated ghosts, devoid of the sweat and spirit of real men and women. The theatre and the screen should be mirrors of our shared humanity, not laboratories for artificial replacement. We stand with the workers who insist that the human person cannot be automated out of existence.