“AI protections remain a crux of today's SAG-AFTRA gamers' strike”

As of today, The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has announced that the Interactive Media Agreement is on strike — effectively, video game voiceovers, motion capture work, and other roles, a full list of which can be found here . The strike comes after more than 18 months of negotiations with some of the biggest companies in gaming, including Activision, EA, Insomniac, Take-Two, and WB Games, over AI protections.

“Any game looking to hire SAG-AFTRA talent to do covered work must sign onto agreements the guild outlined in a post, “These agreements offer critical AI protections to members.”

“We will not sign a contract that allows companies to misuse AI at the expense of our members,” said president Fran Drescher. “Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering a deal that our members can live and work in, we will be here, ready to negotiate.”

“The video game industry generates billions of dollars in profits every year. The driving force behind that success is the creative people who design and create these games,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and lead negotiator. “This includes SAG-AFTRA members who bring unforgettable and beloved game characters to life, and they deserve and demand the same basic protections as artists in film, television, broadcasting and music: fair compensation and the right to informed consent for AI to use their faces, voices and bodies.”

“Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but in blatant exploitation,” said Sarah Elmaleh, Chair of the Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee. “We will not leave any of our members behind, and we will not wait any longer for adequate protections. We look forward to collaborating with the teams on our Interim and Independent agreements that provide AI transparency, approval, and compensation to all performers, and to continuing to negotiate in good faith with this bargaining group as they are ready to join us in the world we all deserve.”

Adam Jensen stands with his back to a large wall of glowing television screens.

Image credit: Eidos Interactive

The strike is set to be voted on in 2023, and is the second of its kind since 2016, when video game actors at SAG-AFTRA went on strike for nearly a year. This January, SAG-AFTRA struck a deal with the company REPLICA to allow AI voice reps under license, a deal that drew criticism from several notable actors who felt caught off guard and betrayed by the development. “I humbly consider myself one of the best voice actors working in games,” Deux Ex actor Elias Toufexis wrote. “From what I’ve seen, no one asked my colleagues either.”

Last December, the ZeniMax Workers United union reached a “first of its kind” agreement with Microsoft over the use of AI tools in game development. Under the agreement, ZeniMax will “notify the union when the application of AI could impact the work of union members” and the union will be able to bargain.

AI is still a touchy subject, to put it mildly, and is undoubtedly a factor in the incredible number of layoffs in the industry over the last two years, as people who choose to pursue art pursue cost-cutting measures with greedy glee, despite their hateful views of both artists and art.

This strike comes at the end of a heartening week that saw at least two major unions formed by workers at Microsoft's Bethesda Game Studios and Blizzard. If you want to know if a game you're playing or looking forward to playing is part of the strike, you can call here . If anyone harass anyone about it, I will personally take you to the nearest dumpster and hot glue the lid shut. Don't be a strikebreaker now.

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