Sean Astin can blend into the background whenever he wants, but I spotted the 54-year-old actor’s unmistakable smile and twinkling eyes that carried me through the Lord of the Rings trilogy inexplicably in the middle of the central hall at CES 2026. He was surrounded by what I thought were fans of his many television and screen roles (LTR, Stranger Things, Goonies), but as I got closer, I saw an intense discussion and guessed it was all about AI.
Astin attended CES as president of SAG-AFTRA, with a contingent of approximately 20 staff members, to assess the current state of AI development and products and what it could mean for the organization’s 160,000 members: actors, broadcasters, dancers, animators, recording artists, stunt performers and other creative professionals.
Why is Sean Astin at CES?
This may seem incongruous for Samwise Gamgee or the loving but clueless brother of Drew Barrymore from 50 first dates to act as a labor leader and spokesperson for one of the most valuable and arguably important industries in the United States, but Astin also holds a degree in American history, literature and culture, as well as a master’s degree in public administration and public policy. Having the context of history and understanding of governance certainly comes in handy at this crucial time, and using these tools and the scale of the world’s largest trade show to make sense of it all is a kind of genius.
“AI issues are really important to our members. So making sure that we have a good handle on what we’re talking about when I came to CES, I was actually kind of focused on the mission.”
CES is a big show, but this year it’s almost as if thousands of companies are all speaking with one voice and saying the same phrase: AI. Yet the implementation of artificial intelligence is as varied as the companies and people behind it. How did Astin manage to get hold of it, to search the forest to find the digital trees? He of course used AI.
Astin told me he uses AI to help him sort through documents, prepare for the task, feed that data into the AI, and he said, without mentioning the specific AI platform, and then communicate with it to evaluate and understand the 2.5 million square feet of convention space.
“It helped me kind of refine my mission for the two or three days that I was navigating this space.”
In other words, Astin is not afraid to confront the enemy on his own turf, especially when it can help him accomplish a critical task.
The mission, however, didn’t leave him much time to simply wander around and enjoy the stands. “I was working with companies that do things like, you know, provenance, data, protection, etc.”
To delve so deeply into the beating heart of CES AI was, in a way, to acknowledge its existence.
“There’s a point where, well, I see things that all of civilization needs to pay attention to. But my goal as a union leader is to determine the point at which this passes as entertainment or as a business…and moves into our area where it affects our members, their name, image and likeness and their – the things that we have jurisdiction over coverage and so on,” Astin explained.
Preparing and Preparing for the Next AI Storm
With rapid advances in generative models leading to the creation of compelling voices, images, and actors (hello Tilly Norwood), it’s been a busy 12 months in AI and entertainment, and Astin, who has only been president of SAG-AFTRA for four months, has seen it all.
“When Disney invests a billion dollars in OpenAI or Amazon, 10 billion, or there are new levels of functionality, realism in sort of open, publicly available products… that really pose an existential threat to our organization, or even an uncertain threat, we have to respond and understand and keep moving forward,” he said.
You would think that SAG-AFTRA’s relatively short three-year negotiation cycles would align with the pace of AI development, but that is clearly not the case.
We must react, understand and continue to move forward.
Astin told me how they need to prepare for this moment, despite how quickly things have changed since the last round of negotiations, when his group first addressed the existential threat posed by AI.
“We knew, when we wrote some of the language in our last agreement, which was fundamental, new and innovative elements on different guardrails and such, that… it would be obsolete,” he told me.
SAG-AFTRA and its members now face “a whole new range of challenges and dynamics,” Astin said.
To understand how to address these challenges and incorporate the necessary language and protections into the next contract, Astin had to travel to CES in Las Vegas to understand the state of AI.
This isn’t just a conversation about movie stars
While much of the conversation about AI and actors seems to revolve around knockoffs of mostly big-name stars, anyone who has seen up close how AI affects an industry knows that it’s often the entry-level jobs and lower-profile positions that are at risk.
“I think the voiceover thing is really in jeopardy right now, and we’re doing everything we can, not only from a negotiation perspective, but also from a public policy perspective,” Astin explained.
SAG-AFTRA is working to incorporate legal language that helps protect these creative workers, but its work in this space could have broader implications.
“Every industry in America is going through this, but I think we’re kind of at the forefront because it’s such a visible usurpation of our work.”
The work is hard, with dozens of meetings, pitches, proposals, and working with communities like stunt people to figure out how to protect their ideas and images.
Every American industry is going through this, but I think we’re kind of at the forefront because it’s such a visible usurpation of our work.
Another major area of concern is the background players. The AI is certainly adept at creating almost non-player characters (NPCs) for content, which could jeopardize the jobs and opportunities of background actors.
“In our contract, there are rules that a certain number of background actors, for example, have to be hired into the union,…So if a digital replica is created and it ends up filling what would be 10 of those roles,” 10 human actors still have to be compensated in some way (like contributing to their health retirement plan).
Although Astin acknowledges that this is an exciting frontier space, he also told me that “a good portion of our members are anti-AI.”
AI made CES inevitable for Astin
These members are demanding that SAG-AFTRA force entertainment companies to behave a certain way when it comes to AI, but to do that, SAG-AFTRA and specifically Sean Astin, the group’s chief spokesperson, must understand AI.
“At the end of the day, you know, we have to be – I’m here at CES… because… the moment demands that I be here.”
Perhaps it’s the scale of what we’re all navigating in the age of AI that is most astonishing and something Astin is clearly struggling with.
“It’s an incredible moment in the course of human history. There were certain moments, you know, the development of the wheel, the industrial revolution and the advent of certain medical technologies, [and] transportation. This is one of them. It is one of the most significant periods in all of human history. »
I asked Astin if he was feeling very positive about the direction things were going.
This is an incredible moment in the course of human history.
For now, he noted that the free float concern is about work displacement. “I don’t know if I’m optimistic or pessimistic about this.”
There are some things Astin knows, however.
“I think it’s absolutely certain that the workforce will be hurt by these technological advances.”
Astin also believes that the creative urge will not evaporate because of AI.
“The fact that there are people in my profession who want to act, who want to make music, who want to make films and TV shows, who want to produce them? They’re not going to stop doing this work because a technology is there, and I think because they’re passionate about it, the audience will always be there.”
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