Video game performers bring countless beloved video game monsters, superheroes, zombies and villains to life, but on Friday many of them took on a new role: striking workers.
Performers at major game companies, including Activision and Warner Bros., finished work at 12:01 a.m. After 18 months of negotiations with a group of video game production companies, the workers said they were not satisfied with the artificial intelligence protections they were offered.
Their unions, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Performers (AFTRA), said they wanted informed consent for any use of their voices or images by artificial intelligence. SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree Ireland said in a statement that video game performers are seeking “the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming and music.”
The debate over protection of artificial intelligence
Audrey Couling, a spokeswoman for the video game makers, said the companies were disappointed with the move and that the union and the makers had reached agreement on 24 of the 25 proposals.
“Our proposal directly responds to SAG-AFTRA's concerns and would expand meaningful AI protections, including requiring consent and fair compensation, to all performers working under the IMA. [Interactive Media Agreement]” Couling said in a statement.
Labor unions are opposed to this, with voice actor Salah Elmaleh leading the workers' negotiations, saying video game companies don't want to give AI protections to workers who act out movements in video games because they don't consider them “performers.”
“They go into the field and they're expected to run, walk, slip and fall – to make it look like a soldier is falling, or a civilian is running, to make it look like a creature, a monster, is moving through the space and stalking,” Elmaleh said. “The benchmark is obviously acting, to make sure they're immersed in a particular person and making this character feel real and believable and unique.”
Actors' strike also challenges AI protections
Actors' strike also challenges AI protections
Artificial intelligence was also a central issue in the historic actors' strike that lasted 118 days last year. SAG-AFTRA actors ultimately gave their informed consent to the use of their likenesses in the contracts they signed with Hollywood studios and streamers, but Some actors say the deal didn't go far enough..
“Let me be clear: What we're being offered right now is far less than what we've achieved in other contracts. Far less,” voice actor and SAG AFTRA member Zeke Alton said at a press conference Thursday. “There are so many flaws that it puts our existence as performers in jeopardy.”
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