"AI protections remain the sticking point" for today’s SAG-AFTRA game actor strike

As of today, the The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has called a strike of the Interactive Media Agreement - effectively, video game voice acting, motion capture work, and other roles, the full list of which can be found here. The strike comes after over 18 months of negotiations with some of gaming’s largest companies - including Activision, EA, Insomniac, Take-Two, and WB Games - over AI protections.

"Any game looking to employ SAG-AFTRA talent to perform covered work must sign on" to agreements specified in a post by the guild, “These agreements offer critical AI protections for members."

"We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse AI to the detriment of our members," said president Fran Drescher. "Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate."

"The video game industry generates billions of dollars in profit annually. The driving force behind that success is the creative people who design and create those games," said national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. "That includes the SAG-AFTRA members who bring memorable and beloved game characters to life, and they deserve and demand the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming, and music: fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the AI use of their faces, voices, and bodies."

"Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but rather flagrant exploitation," said Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh. "We will not leave any of our members behind, nor will we wait for sufficient protection any longer. We look forward to collaborating with teams on our Interim and Independent contracts, which provide AI transparency, consent and compensation to all performers, and to continuing to negotiate in good faith with this bargaining group when they are ready to join us in the world we all deserve."

The strike was voted for in 2023, and marks the second of it’s type since 2016, where videogame actors at SAG-AFTRA went on strike for almost a year. This January, SAG-AFTRA struck a deal to allow AI voice replicas under licence with company REPLICA, which drew criticism from several prominent actors who felt blindsided and betrayed by the development. "I would humbly consider myself one of the top voice actors working in games," wrote Deux Ex actor Elias Toufexis. "From what I'm seeing, no one asked any of my peers either."

Last December, union ZeniMax Workers United came to a "first of its kind" agreement with Microsoft over the usage of AI tools in game development. Per the agreement, ZeniMax will "provide notice to the union in cases where AI implementation may impact the work of union members," with the union able to bargain.

AI remains a hot button issue, to put it mildly, and undoubtedly a factor in the staggering number of layoffs across the industry over the past two years, as the sort of people who choose to involve themselves in art despite seemingly have nothing but contempt for both artists and the art itself jump on cost-cutting measures with avaricious glee.

This strike, at least, comes at the end of a week filled with heartening developments, with two large wall-to-wall unions formed under Microsoft by workers at Bethesda Game Studios and at Blizzard. If you want to find out whether a game you either play or are looking forward to playing is under the scope of the strike, you can search here. If anyone harasses anyone over this, I will personally escort you to the nearest bin and seal the lid with hot glue. Don’t be a scab now.