Hollywood actors are on strike against major video game companies including Activision, Warner Bros., and Walt Disney over the usage of artificial intelligence (AI).
It comes after an 18-month negotiation process between the firms and a union representing over 2,500 video game performers over a new contract.
The parties have reached a consensus on several important topics, including pay and employment safety. Still, safeguards about the application of AI technology continue to be a significant obstacle.
Screen Performers Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) called the industrial action after a strike by film and television performers crippled Hollywood the previous year.
What do the actors fear?
The performers fear that instead of paying them fairly, gaming companies may use generative AI to replicate their voices and physical features to animate video game avatars.
“Although agreements have been reached on many issues… the employers refuse to plainly affirm, in clear and enforceable language, that they will protect all performers covered by this contract in their AI language,” Sag-Aftra said in a statement.
“We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse AI to the detriment of our members,” it added.
The video game companies, however, contend that they have already given up to the union’s requests sufficiently.
“We are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal,” said Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the 10 video game producers negotiating with SAG-AFTRA.
“Our offer is directly responsive to SAG-AFTRA’s concerns and extends meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation to all performers working under the [Interactive Media Agreement],” she added.
Artists who give voiceovers and on-camera work for video game characters are covered by the Interactive Media Agreement.
The last agreement, which lacked AI provisions, was scheduled to expire in November 2022 but was extended every month while negotiations were ongoing.
Following a SAG-AFTRA-organized strike last year, TV and movie performers in the US won $1 billion (£790 million) in higher wages and benefits as well as protections against the use of AI. In the ninety-year history of the union, the 118-day closure was the longest.
According to the entertainment industry publication Deadline, the activities greatly hampered film and TV production and cost California’s economy around $6.5 billion when combined with another writers’ strike.
