Jul 26, 2024 10:51:00

Actors' union SAG-AFTRA announces strike over use of AI in games

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), a labor union consisting of about 160,000 actors, has declared that all members working in the gaming sector will go on strike from July 26, 2024. The background to this strike is the use of AI by actors in the gaming industry without their consent.

SAG-AFTRA Members Who Work on Video Games Go on Strike | SAG-AFTRA
https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-members-who-work-video-games-go-strike

SAG-AFTRA performers call strike against major game studios over AI

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/sag-aftra-authorizes-video-game-actor-strike-over-ai

Video game performers to strike over AI concerns | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/sagaftra-video-game-performers-ai-strike-4f4c7d846040c24553dbc2604e5b6034

SAG-AFTRA has been negotiating with major game studios such as Take 2 Productions, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, and Warner Bros. Games since October 2022. According to SAG-AFTRA, the purpose of the negotiations is to rectify the situation in which content is generated by generative AI using the assets of actors once hired without the actors' consent or compensation for their performance in order to reduce costs.

'We will not agree to contracts that allow companies to exploit AI to the detriment of our members,' SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement. 'If companies like Take 2 Productions are serious about engaging with our members, we can work with game studios.'

However, negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and major game studios have broken down. Sarah Elmaleh, chair of the Interactive Media Contract Negotiations Committee, said, 'After nearly 18 months of negotiations, it has become clear that our employers, the major game studios, are not interested in fair and reasonable AI protections, but rather in exploiting actors. We reject this paradigm.'

SAG-AFTRA has approved a strike by all union members working in the games division based on the organization's interactive media contract. The strike will begin at 12:01 a.m. local time on July 26, 2024. This means that game studios will be required to sign two types of contracts proposed by SAG-AFTRA,

the Tiered-Budget Independent Interactive Media Agreement and the Interim Interactive Media Agreement, if they employ actors under contract with SAG-AFTRA for voice acting, motion capture performance, or in-game appearances.

SAG-AFTRA said the contracts include 'appropriate AI protections for our members,' and cover more than 2,500 'voice-over and motion capture performers, stuntmen, stunt coordinators, singers, dancers, puppeteers and background performers.'

'We will renegotiate when they are ready to offer the best terms for all of our members,' Elmaleh said. SAG-AFTRA's Chief Contract Officer Ray Rodriguez said, 'A strike is a last resort. We have been negotiating for as long as we can responsibly, but now that we no longer have any hope of reaching a deal, we are going on strike.'