I wish the article covered what is actually in the waiver, but I can hazard a pretty good guess.

The current rules that SAG-AFTRA negotiated with the studios already allow the studios to use AI for "fix it in post" type stuff that doesn't alter an actor's performance, such as extending a scene or modifying the environment around an actor.

If they want to use AI to modify an actor's performance or generate new footage of an actor (the so-called "digital replica") they need to get the actor's consent in advance and compensate them based on the number of days the actor would have worked to produce the generated footage.

Unfortunately I couldn't find anything to confirm this, but it seems likely that Amazon is asking actors for a blanket waiver so they can use AI however they want. If that is the case it is understandable why Cage wouldn't want to work with them.

It’s not clear to me what this waiver covers? Everyone seems to be assuming his likeness, but it may be anything “AI” - which might include Photoshop (due to it’s editing capability) or any number of de-aging systems, which work far better with AI then other approaches.

The article is light on details but crux mostly on Cage not being an “ai-friendly actor”. Not sure if the film would use extensive ai elements or what. On a side note never heard a movie tout its “minutes viewed” by audience.

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50036390

I guess he didn't read the terms of usage for Amazon prime folks