Video game performers hit the picket line, calling for AI protections
Video game actors and performers hit the picket lines Thursday for the first time in their near weeklong strike against video game makers.
The SAG-AFTRA union members are striking as contract negotiations with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections.
After nearly two years of negotiations within the Interactive Media Agreement, the union representing 2,500 members called for the strike to begin at 12:01 a.m. July 26.
Picketers took their cause to the Warner Bros. Studios Lot in Burbank on Thursday. "Their main message to us is, 'we've already put stuff on the table for you in the area of AI,' which they have, but it is dangerously incomplete," Ray Rodriguez, SAG-AFTRA chief contracts officer said.
"It does not cover all our members. It contains loopholes that are so large that they swallow the protections that are nominally being offered,"
SAG-AFTRA negotiators said there have been gains in contract discussion over wages and job safety, but that the studios will not make a deal over the regulation of generative AI.
"We have already found common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals, including historic wage increases and additional safety provisions. Our offer is directly responsive to SAG-AFTRA's concerns and extends meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation to all performers working under the IMA," Audrey Cooling, a spokeswoman for the video game producers said.
The union argues that AI poses an even greater threat to voice and motion performers in the video game industry than it does to actors in film and television.
They said that without protections for their members, gaming companies could train AI to replicate an actor's voice, or create a digital replica of their likeness without consent or fair compensation.
"We are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations," Cooling said.