Starting today, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has called for a strike of the Interactive Media Agreement, which actually includes voice acting in video games, motion capture work, and other roles, the full list of which can be found here hereThe strike comes after more than 18 months of negotiations with some of the biggest video game companies, including Activision, EA, Insomniac, Take-Two and WB Games, over AI protections.
“Any game seeking to employ SAG-AFTRA talent to perform covered work must sign agreements” specified in a publication According to the guild, “These agreements provide critical AI protections for members.”
“We will not agree 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 a deal that our members can live and work with, we will be here, ready to negotiate.”
“The video game industry generates billions of dollars in revenue each year. 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 SAG-AFTRA members who bring memorable and beloved game characters to life, and who deserve and demand the same fundamental protections as artists in film, television, streaming and music: fair compensation and the right to informed consent for the use of their faces, voices and bodies by AI.”
“Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair and reasonable protections for AI, but in blatant exploitation,” said Sarah Elmaleh, Chair of the Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee. “We will not leave any of our members behind, nor will we wait any longer for them to provide us with sufficient protections. We look forward to collaborating with the teams on our interim and standalone contracts, which provide transparency, consent, and compensation for AI for all artists, and to continue to negotiate in good faith with this negotiating group when they are ready to join us in the world we all deserve.”
The strike was voted for in 2023, and is the second of its kind since 2016, when SAG-AFTRA video game actors went on strike for nearly a year. This January, SAG-AFTRA reached an agreement to Allow licensed AI voice replicas with the company REPLICA, prompting criticism from several prominent actors who felt blindsided and betrayed by the development. “I would humbly consider myself one of the best voice actors working in games,” he wrote. Two Ex Actor Elias Toufexis: “As far as I can see, no one asked any of my co-stars.”
Last December, the ZeniMax Workers United union They 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 in cases where the implementation of AI may impact the work of union members,” and the union will be able to negotiate.
AI remains a hot topic, to put it mildly, and no doubt a factor in the staggering number of layoffs in the industry over the past two years, as the sort of people who choose to get involved in art despite seemingly having nothing but contempt for artists and art itself, throw themselves into cost-cutting measures with greedy glee.
This strike, at least, comes at the end of a week full of encouraging events, with two major unions formed under Microsoft by workers from Bethesda Game Studios and At BlizzardIf you want to know if a game you play or are looking forward to playing is within the scope of the strike, you can search hereIf anyone harasses anyone about this, I will personally escort them to the nearest dumpster and seal the lid with hot glue. Don't be a scab now.
