FILE - SAG-AFTRA captains Iris Liu, left, and Miki Yamashita, center, and SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland lead a cheer for striking actors outside Paramount Pictures studio, Nov. 3, 2023, in Los Angeles. While negotiators with SAG-AFTRA have made gains in bargaining over wages and job safety in their video game contract, leaders say talks have stalled over a key issue: protections over the use of artificial intelligence.
Union leaders say they aren’t “anti-AI altogether.” But voice actors and other video game performers are worried that unchecked use of AI could provide game makers with a means to displace them — by training an AI to replicate an actor’s voice, or to create a digital replica of their likeness without consent.How Nvidia became an AI giant
The union has held onto one last option in their battle over a contract: calling a strike. Crabtree-Ireland said that the union hopes to avoid a work stoppage, but will “do what it takes to make sure that our members are treated fairly.” “Having those roles gives you the trust in yourself to take a bigger role,” he said. “And if one doesn’t have access to NPC roles, telling a small part of a story... you’re going to have no confidence leading something.”
The video game companies covered by the interactive contract include Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Take 2 Productions Inc., VoiceWorks Productions Inc. and WB Games Inc. Amid the tense negotiations, SAG-AFTRA created a new, separate contract in February that covered indie and lower-budget video game projects. The tiered-budget independent interactive media agreement contains some of the protections on AI that video game industry giants have rejected.called a “a great example of AI being done right,” enables major studios to work with unionized actors to create and license a digital replica of their voice.