"AI is not the enemy, it's the lack of ethics": this is how the creators made their voices heard in Mexico City (Video)
MEXICO CITY (apro).- This Sunday, July 13, film, television, and dubbing actors, commercial announcers, presenters, musicians, animators, filmmakers, screenwriters, models, translators, audio engineers, producers, publicists, talent agencies, co-players, dancers, and models gathered at the Monument to the Revolution to demand the regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The meeting was at 12 noon. More than 500 women and men attended, all of whom were concerned about the rapid and unregulated advancement of this technology.
This modern technique, they emphasized, "allows human voices to be cloned, imitated, and replaced without consent, without contracts, without payment, without proper credit, and without respect for labor rights or the memory of failed artists."
Members of the Mexican Association of Commercial Announcers (AMELOC), the International Association of Entertainment Workers (AITE), the National Association of Actors (ANDA), the National Association of Dubbing Professionals (ANPROD), the General Society of Writers of Mexico (SOGEM), the National Association of Interpreters (ANDI), Locutores.com, the United Voices Organization, Ark Dubbing, Continue Producing, the Dubbing Actors Force (FAD), the Esteban Siller Center for Artistic Specialization (CEARTES), and the Mx Agency Collective, among other organizations, attended.
Actor León Michel was the moderator and pointed out that one concern unites them in a single voice:
“AI is advancing faster than the laws that should regulate it. We're not here to reject the technology; that needs to be made very clear. We know it can be a powerful tool, but we are here to clearly demand that rules be established that protect our work, our rights, and our image.”
“We believe in a future where humanity and technology can coexist, but that will only be possible if there are updated, clear, and fair laws. And that's why we're here today to raise our voices with respect, unity, and proposals. And to ask our authorities to heed this call and act with the responsibility that this historic moment demands.”
Lack of regulationVoice actors, commercials, musicians, illustrators, performers, presenters, creative engineers, and producers gathered at the Monument to the Revolution to demand laws that protect their voices, faces, and jobs, and to regulate Artificial Intelligence.
?? @Luceciliaan pic.twitter.com/Ij4jwexaY1 — IMER Noticias (@IMER_Noticias) July 13, 2025
Next, Aurora Mijangos, actress and commercial announcer, emphasized that the voice acting industry has been one of the first to be affected by the lack of regulation regarding the use of AI. However, she added, "the reality is that no clear and decisive measures are in place." She emphasized:
“If these clear and decisive measures are not put in place, all sectors of society and citizens will soon find themselves equally vulnerable. The creative industries have felt the brunt of this lack of regulation the hardest. However, the risk is much broader. Failure to anticipate the ethical use of AI will lead to unprecedented job displacement with incalculable social and economic consequences. We are told that AI must be embraced without reservation, often presenting it as a technological marvel. However, little is said about its true nature.”
He added:
“Generative AI doesn't create, but rather feeds off what humans have produced and made available on the internet. Our voices, faces, images, illustrations, photographs, artwork, texts, research, and books have been used for countless projects, for which we previously received fair compensation and royalties. Today, that possibility fades, as AI takes its input without generating any financial compensation for the artists or the original creators.
“There is a profound error in considering these materials to belong to the public domain simply because they are there. And this is not the case. Today, that possibility is fading, since AI uses its input without generating any financial compensation for the artists or the original creators. We have come together with multiple associations, collectives, and companies, each seeking, within their own sphere, to promote ethical and responsible regulation of artificial intelligence.”
He named some proposals from the dubbing actors and announcers:
"Let the voice be recognized as sensitive biometric data and let the image also be included, following the example of countries like Denmark. Let dubbing be done exclusively by human beings, Mexicans or foreigners with residency and work permits. Let all projects include clear credits so that there is an auditing mechanism to determine who recorded each production. Let the "Made in Mexico" seal be established on each production. To achieve this, we have worked to modify various legal regulations, including the Federal Cinematography Law, the Federal Copyright Law, the Federal Radio, Television, and Telecommunications Law, the General Law on Culture and Cultural Rights, and the Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties."
He thanked Morena representative Pablo García and Elizabeth Vázquez "for paving the way for us in this long process, as only then can we build a legal framework that protects our work, our identity, and our future."
Cloning without permissionUnder the slogan "AI helps, it doesn't replace, we are the voices you don't see," voice actors, translators, and announcers march around the Monument to the Revolution to demand regulation of artificial intelligence.
?? @RomaLozanne pic.twitter.com/yFEIZV2TTN — YoSoiTu (@YoSoiTuLSR) July 13, 2025
Afterwards, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs at ANDA, Alejandro Cuéllar, emphasized:
“AI is not the enemy. The real enemy is the lack of ethics, regulation, and respect for those of us who give life to art. It's not fair that our voices are cloned without permission, that our faces are used in ads without a contract, that our scripts are recycled without credit, that a machine is trained with our work without paying us a single cent. This is already happening, but there is also hope and achievements that inspire us.
“In the United States, the SAG-AFTRA union organized and succeeded in stopping abuses, ensuring that no actor can be digitally replicated without their consent or fair compensation. An agreement was signed that obliges producers to negotiate with artists, guarantee royalties, and protect the integrity of human labor. That wasn't a gift; it was the result of unity, organization, and voice, and that's what we're doing here now—unity, organization, and the voice of all of us.”
He stressed:
“We want clear laws, fair contracts, and respect for the most human aspects of our profession, the soul we put into each job. And we say it clearly: Congress, the Senate, and the cultural and labor authorities in Mexico are arriving too late. Technology moves very fast, faster than the law, and if they don't act now, what is lost will be irreversible.”
Ended:
“Let's not allow ourselves to be divided. This is not the time for differences between guilds or unions. Today we are one voice, and if we continue like this, no one and nothing will be able to silence us. Today we are one voice.”
Immediately everyone chanted:
“One voice! One voice! One voice! One voice!...”
“Let them not steal our voices”Lili Barba, president of AMELOC, stressed:
“Today we speak out because the future of all of us who make a living from our creativity is at risk. It's not just about having a project taken away from us; it's about something much deeper. It's about our voice, our face, our ideas, our work—what belongs to us by right—being taken without permission, replicated unethically, and used without compensation, even to commit crimes.
“It's no exaggeration, believe me, to say that thousands, thousands of employees are at risk. Not just ours, the artists, but those of an entire work chain: studios, engineers, translators, managers, agencies, producers. We all depend on human creativity being valued and respected. We're not against technology—how wonderful! What progress!—but we should advance with clear rules. It can't grow at the expense of our rights. AI needs a legal framework that sets limits.”
Rounded:
“We need laws that ensure our voices, our faces, and our works are not stolen and sold or manipulated as they please.”
Meanwhile, Verónica López Treviño, announcer, emphasized:
“All of us involved in art and culture—music, books, texts, research, photography, illustration, translation, dubbing, and voiceover—in short, all the disciplines involved in art—should be here next time. This is for everyone, and let's make ourselves heard as Mexican artists.”
Meanwhile, Lucila Hernández, a contemporary dancer and representative of the Collective of Managers' Agencies, explained:
“I am making this participation on behalf of the Colectivo de Agencias Mx, a group that represents a group of agencies and agents representing models, talents, actors, dancers, musicians and performers who work in the advertising, fashion, film and television industries, and the audiovisual industry in general. Our guild is made up of at least 150 agencies that represent between 100 and 300 talents, each of which has a presence in cities such as Guadalajara, Monterrey, Cancún, Los Cabos, Chihuahua, León, Mérida and of course Mexico City. Our companies directly or indirectly employ around 35,000 people, whose profession is the exploitation of their image for advertising or entertainment projects.
“I make this preamble with the purpose of explaining who we are and what we do in this sector of the industry and contextualizing why we come here today to kindly request our legislators to support us with the conscious regulation of the use of AI, which should be understood as an extremely useful tool for the development of progress, but never as a replacement for the human capacity to perform physical or creative work. We also want to express our need to create and reform some laws. Changes that arise from the need to protect the interests of all of us who work in this industry, whose rights have been systematically violated in recent years in one way or another by the excessive advances in technology and by legal loopholes that exist today in our country.”
He emphasized:
“We firmly believe that adjustments to the law at opportune moments in history can help each industry operate more profitably, so that both service providers and customers can achieve broader goals and ensure that economic growth for all meets the precepts of equality and justice that our industry expects and requires.
“Mexico has become the capital of advertising and training production in Latin America. It's the world's leading light. If a product resonates in Mexico, it resonates around the world. That's why we urgently need regularization and structural reform of the laws so that the growth and economic impact derived from our work don't fall victim to injustice and abuse, as has occurred today.”
Environmental deteriorationAxel Uriel González Pérez, a visual artist from the Volcanoes Region, a graduate in interactive technologies and member of Arte es Ética, mentioned that it is a collective that already forms an Ibero-American network of artists, illustrators, designers, and creatives from different Latin American countries and Spain and that as concerned workers, "we are busy taking action, drafting a manifesto in 2022 that you can read and support on our networks to request that our parliamentary representatives regulate generative AI." He emphasized:
“Since then, we have advised various groups, associations, and unions in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Spain. However, the struggle continues. Why are we concerned and concerned about the advancement of this specific type of technology? Because generative AI was commercialized and developed illegally. It operates today without any regulation, and far from being a tool for people working in the field, it is presented as an ideal instrument for replacing everyone. Furthermore, this technology causes a series of harms that impact different areas of our society. One of them is its contribution to environmental degradation and its worsening climate change.”
And he concluded:
“The data makes it clear that generative AI isn't here to improve the creative industries. It's just an economic bubble, a false advance they're selling us. It's actually a massive worker substitution, driven by the increased mediocrity of the products big companies want to launch.”
Several of the attendees stated that they hope President Claudia Sheinbaum takes up their case.
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