Video game actors strike after AI contract negotiations fail

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SAG-AFTRA members who work in video games staged a walkout on Friday following the breakdown in contract negotiations, with artificial intelligence once again emerging as a major issue.

Duncan Crabtree Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, called for the strike on Thursday on behalf of about 2,600 video game actors covered by the Interactive Media Agreement. The strike went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

The last time actors in the video game industry went on strike was in October 2016, before AI became a major issue.

“We will not agree to contracts that allow companies to misuse AI to harm our members. Enough is enough,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said in a statement. “If these companies are serious about proposing a contract that allows our members to live and work, we are ready to negotiate.”

Last Saturday, the Screen Actors Guild and the National Federation of Television and Radio Entertainers warned that a strike would be inevitable if no agreement on artificial intelligence terms was reached between the unions and video game makers.

The Interactive Media deal, which expires in November 2022, covers performers doing voice-over and motion-capture work in the video game industry.

“Frankly, it's astonishing that these video game studios have not learned anything from the lessons of the last year. Our members can and will stand up and demand fair and equitable treatment when it comes to AI, and the public supports that,” Crabtree Ireland said.

Video game actors are calling for new contracts that would require producers to get their consent before recreating their voices or likenesses with AI.

Audrey Couling, a spokeswoman for the video game maker, told the Los Angeles Times that the two companies were negotiating “in good faith” and that the two sides had “reached a tentative agreement on the majority of the proposal.”

She added that the two sides were optimistic that an agreement was achievable.

But Sarah Elmaleh, chair of SAG-AFTRA's Interactive Media Contract Negotiating Committee, said 18 months of negotiations have made it clear that “employers are not interested in fair and reasonable AI protections, but rather in egregious exploitation.”

Residual wages and AI were key issues in last year's Hollywood actors' strike, which lasted 118 days and ended with an agreement that included wage increases, AI safety nets, streaming bonuses, and other improvements.

– City News Service



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