Actors, represented by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), have initiated a strike against the video game industry due to unresolved issues concerning artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
This action began on Friday, July 26, and has halted new video game projects while affecting ongoing development across both major publishers and smaller indie studios. The strike impacts over 160,000 SAG-AFTRA members.
Why Did Negotiations Break Down?
The breakdown in negotiations for a new contract, known as the Interactive Media Agreement (IMA), was primarily due to disagreements over worker protections related to AI.
The union’s bargaining committee comprises representatives from 30 companies, including industry giants like Activision, Take-Two, Insomniac Games, and WB Games. Although both sides reached agreements on several proposals, the provisions concerning AI remained a contentious issue, ultimately leading to the strike.
What Are SAG-AFTRA’s AI Provisions?
SAG-AFTRA’s provisions aim to protect both voice and movement performers from the misuse of digital replicas and generative AI.
- Digital replicas involve using an existing performance to create new ones without the original performer, while
- Generative AI can create performances without any initial input.
According to Ray Rodriguez, SAG-AFTRA’s chief contracts officer, the publishers initially proposed protections exclusively for voice performers, excluding motion performers such as stunt and creature actors. Although the companies later included motion performers, they limited protections to cases where the performer is identifiable in the AI output. SAG-AFTRA found this proposal inadequate.
Concerns from Performers
Andi Norris, a member of the union’s IMA negotiating committee, criticized the publishers’ proposal, stating that it would exclude many movement performers, leaving them vulnerable to being replaced by AI. “Their proposal would carve out anything that doesn’t look and sound identical to me,” Norris stated during a press conference, emphasizing the threat to movement specialists, including stunt performers.
In contrast, the video game companies believe their offer sufficiently addresses SAG-AFTRA’s concerns. Audrey Cooling, a representative for the bargaining committee, asserted that the terms included consent and fair compensation for all performers, calling them some of the strongest AI protections in the entertainment industry.
“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,” Cooling wrote in a statement to The Verge.
What Are the Strike Exemptions?
The strike’s scope is somewhat ambiguous due to various exceptions in SAG-AFTRA’s rules. Exemptions include work under the Tiered-Budget Independent Interactive Media Agreement, the Interim Interactive Media Agreement, and a specific clause in the IMA known as “side letter six,” which applies to games in production before August 2023.
Notably, although Take-Two is a struck company, its highly anticipated game Grand Theft Auto VI is exempt from the strike. However, union leaders have urged members to avoid working on side letter six projects.
Sarah Elmaleh, chair of SAG-AFTRA’s IMA negotiating committee, highlighted in a TikTok video that “side letter six permits but does not require performers to render services during a strike,” suggesting that this clause was intended to weaken the union’s striking power.
The last SAG-AFTRA video game strike occurred in 2016 and lasted 11 months. It resulted in performers receiving fixed rate increases, improved safety assurances on set, and better oversight to prevent vocal stress among voice performers.
Featured Image courtesy of Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
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