Since 2004, New York has provided tax credits to encourage film and television productions located in the state. In its adopted budget for fiscal year 2024, the tax credit program was extended to 2034, and the amount available for the tax credit increased to $700 million. The credit is 30% of “qualified costs” incurred in the production. This tax credit is one of the reasons that New York has remained one of the top filming locations in the United States notwithstanding stiff competition from other states to lure television and film projects.
Subsequently, legislation (S7422A) was introduced that would remove from “qualified costs” used to calculate the tax credit any production that “uses artificial intelligence in a manner which results in the displacement of employees whose salaries are qualified expenses, unless such replacement is permitted by a current collective bargaining agreement in force covering such employees.”
Given that the purpose of the tax credit is to incentivize production and creation of jobs in the state, with the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI), there is scrutiny of how AI will impact/employment in film and television productions. The legislators were also aware that the use of AI was a major issue in the recent negotiations for contracts with the writers (now settled) and actors (still ongoing as of this date). Consequently, the idea to disincentivize the use of AI that supplants employment by removing the cost of AI from the calculation of the tax credit provides motivation to pursue the proposed legislation in New York’s Legislature.
The goal of removing AI costs from the credit is protecting employment from encroachment by AI, but how the disallowance would be implemented is unclear. For example, if instead of using costumed characters or extensive make-up, a production used computer generated images (CGI), would the cost of the CGI be disallowed? Or if AI were used to write or supplement dialogue, would that call into question those costs for computing the tax credit? How would an auditor reviewing the film credit know and understand where AI is used and whether it actually displaced a human employee? In addition, auditors would have to examine collective bargaining agreements to determine whether “such replacement is permitted by a current collective bargaining agreement in force covering such employees.”
Whether or not S. 7422-A is enacted, the proposal may pique the interest of the other 37 states that have some type of credit for film production. See Film Industry Tax Incentives: State-by-State (2023) | Wrapbook.
