Video gaming industry strikes and calls for protection from AI

With concerns arising over the threat AI brings to livelihoods, actors from the gaming industry officially went on strike last week.

Last Thursday (July 25) members of the US actors union SAG-AFTRA voted to strike, as ongoing negotiations have yet to yield results.

The strike concerns the demand for protections to be put in place, including the right of informed consent for the AI use of video game actors’ faces, voices, and bodies.

It concerns all covered services under the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Interactive Media Agreement, Interactive Localization Agreement, and Interactive Low Budget Agreement.

All SAG-AFTRA members have now been instructed to cease their performances which are currently impacted.

Video gaming industry has been in debate about AI for a year and a half

It was in October 2022 when discussions first started, but an agreement and subsequent deal have not yet been reached.

In the notification about the strike, Sarah Elmaleh, the Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair said: “Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable A.I. protections, but rather flagrant exploitation.

“We refuse this paradigm – 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 A.I. 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.”

Union members will be making their voices heard at the picket line today (August 1), as they’ll be standing outside WB Games Inc in Los Angeles from 9am to 12pm PT.

The union president Fran Drescher describes the situation as now being ‘enough is enough.’

“We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse A.I. to the detriment of our members. 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.”

Image Credit: Ideogram

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