Last year the actors and writers shut down Hollywood with strikes that lasted over three months. This year the video game actors are on strike over concerns over the use of artificial intelligence.
Over 300 video game performers and Hollywood actors hoisted the signs in protest outside Warner Bros. Studios. The protesters got some support on the picket line from members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and the Writers Guild of America.
Strikers cite, “an unwillingness from top gaming companies to protect union voice actors and motion capture workers equally against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence.”
National executive director of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists spoke on the issue saying, “we’ve made deals with the studios and streamers. We’ve made deals without a strike with the major record labels and with countless other employers, which provide for informed consent and fair compensation for our members. And yet, for some reason, the video game companies refuse to do that and that’s what’s going to be their undoing.”
Last week’s vote to strike came after over 18 months of unsuccessful negotiations with the top gaming companies including Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co.
Currently the use of AI is unregulated; allowing companies to use the voices and images of actors without their permission or offering compensation. Concerns over AI was also an issue for the actors and writers last year when they shut down Hollywood with a strike.
SAG-AFTRA member Konstantine Anthony noted, “a lot of the algorithms that we see in our most advanced video games have been around for decades. It’s just become more and more advanced to recreate, likeness — that’s really what they’re trying to do so that they don’t have to use us anymore. That’s why we’re here today: to ask that they simply pay their storytellers.”
Video game producers spokesperson Audrey Cooling said that the companies have offered AI protections and “a significant increase in wages for SAG-AFTRA represented performers in video games.”
She added, “we have worked hard to deliver 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. We have proposed terms that provide consent and fair compensation for anyone employed under the (contract) if an AI reproduction or digital replica of their performance is used in games.”
However, there is an issue over just exactly who qualifies as a “performer”; with some performers being considered simply as “data” to the video game companies.