Striking unions say video game makers consider actors “data” for AI

Artificial intelligence was a key factor in last year's Hollywood strike, and now it's sparking a second strike by actors working in a much larger industry that's central to technological advancements: video games.

The Screen Actors Guild of America (SAG-AFTRA) launched its second strike in nine months on Friday, this time against the gaming giants who dominate an industry that generates more than $100 billion in revenue each year.

Union negotiators told AFP that while many of the demands were the same – such as consent and compensation for actors whose voices and movements are used by AI to create game characters – the latest round of talks presented unique challenges.

Technology companies, by their very nature, tend to view actors as just “data,” said Ray Rodriguez, lead negotiator for video-game contracts.

“They deliver nuanced performances that reflect the psychology of the characters and the situation,” he said. “That's what makes it so compelling.”

But, he added, “the fact that they see themselves as a technology company” is directly related to “their unwillingness to recognize the value of performance.”

Video game companies' “secrecy”

The strike began just after midnight on Friday.

The deals involve around 2,600 artists who provide voice-over services for video games or record physical movements to animate computer-generated characters.

The strike comes after more than a year and a half of fruitless negotiations between the union and companies including Activision, Disney, Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. Games.

Rodriguez said talks have been sporadic because the video game companies have not appointed dedicated negotiators and there is “extreme secrecy.”

There are other complicating factors.

Video game characters are often created through a combination of human performers: for example, one actor might provide the voice of a hero, and another might motion capture the hero's movements.

It's a “really fun and cool” way to work together, said Sarah Elmaleh, the union's negotiating chair.

But she warned that video game companies are trying to exploit that ambiguity to create “loopholes” in their own counterproposals.

This is because video game companies can use AI not just to recreate a specific actor, but to create “new” voices and body movements from composites of human actors.

Using generative AI in this way makes it much harder for actors to track their actions and therefore harder to opt out of consent or receive rewards.

“There are a lot of ways to gloss over this,” Elmaleh told AFP at Comic-Con in San Diego, California, this week.

Possibility of jobs “disappearing”

Picket lines outside Hollywood's biggest studios, often joined by A-list stars, helped draw attention to last summer's strike.

Elmaleh said a video game industry strike might require a more “surprising and diverse” approach.

She suggested the strike strategy could focus on “streamers and the online arena, and then the in-person arena,” but did not provide details.

For video game voice actors like Lindsay Rousseau, any labor disputes will hopefully come soon, as AI is rapidly eating away at her job.

“I voice the NPCs (non-player characters) that give you side quests, the characters that fight and die, and a lot of the creatures,” she said.

“That's the first piece to disappear.”

Without AI protection, Rousseau warned, only a few big-name voice actors at the top of the video game industry will be able to make a living, while those just starting out or those barely scraping by will be left behind.

For vulnerable actors still reeling from the effects of the Hollywood strike, the thought of even more time without work is tough.

But “the way the strike unfolded last year really proved us right on this issue,” Rodriguez said.

“This incident has not made us hesitant to launch a new battle on AI. Rather, it has underscored the need to fight this battle, and to fight it now.”

© 2024 AFP