LOS ANGELES, USA —
Hollywood video game artists were protesting Thursday against what they call an unwillingness by major game companies to protect voice actors and motion capture workers alike from the unregulated use of artificial intelligence.
The protest marks the first major labor action since voice actors and performance workers voted to strike last week. The work stoppage came after more than 18 months of negotiations with video game giants, including divisions of Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co., over a new interactive media deal stalled by protections around the use of AI.
Union leaders have called AI an existential crisis for performers. The images of game voice actors and motion capture artists, they say, could be replicated by AI and used without consent and without fair compensation.
Unregulated use of AI, the union says, poses “an equal or even greater threat” to artists in the video game industry than in film and television, because the ability to cheaply and easily create convincing digital replicas of artists’ voices is widely available.
Audrey Cooling, a spokeswoman for the video game makers, said the companies have offered artificial intelligence protections as well as “a significant increase in salaries for SAG-AFTRA-represented performers in video games.”
“We have worked hard to submit proposals with reasonable terms that protect the rights of performers while ensuring we can continue to use the most advanced technology to create a great gaming experience for fans,” Cooling said.
“We have proposed terms that provide consent and fair compensation for any person employed under the (contract) if an AI reproduction or digital replica of their performance is used in the games,” he said.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) bargaining committee argued that the studios’ definition of who constitutes a “performer” is key to understanding the question of who would be protected.
“The industry has told us point-blank that it does not necessarily consider everyone who is doing movement performances to be an entertainer who is covered by the collective bargaining agreement,” SAG-AFTRA chief contract officer Ray Rodriguez said at a news conference last week, adding that some physical performances are being treated as “data.”
The union had been in talks with an industry bargaining group made up of the signatory video game companies. Those companies are Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Llama Productions LLC, Take 2 Productions Inc., VoiceWorks Productions Inc. and WB Games Inc.
The global video game industry generated nearly $184 billion in revenue in 2023, according to gaming market forecaster Newzoo, and revenue is projected to reach $207 billion in 2026.
“We are at the table because we want to include SAG-AFTRA-represented artists in our productions, and we will continue to work to resolve the last outstanding issue in these negotiations,” Cooling said. “Our goal is to reach an agreement with the union that will end this strike.”
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