LOS ANGELES.- Los artists of video games of Hollywood voted in favor of going to strike today – July 25 – leading part of the entertainment industry to another work stoppage after negotiations for a new contract with major game studios over protections against Artificial Intelligence (AI) broke down.
The strike, the second by video game voice actors and motion-capture performers affiliated with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-Aftra), will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, July 26. The move comes after nearly two years of negotiations with video game giants, including divisions of Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co., over a new interactive media deal.
The work of artists in the face of AI
SAG-Aftra negotiators say progress has been made on wages and job security in the video game contract, but the studios won’t come to an agreement on regulating generative AI. Without these protections, game companies could train AI to replicate an actor’s voice or create a digital replica of their likeness without consent or fair compensation, the union said.
Fran Drescher, the union’s president, said in a prepared statement that members would not approve a contract that would allow companies to abuse AI.
“Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering a deal that our members can live and work under, we’ll be here, ready to negotiate,” Drescher said.
Agreements between companies and unions
A spokeswoman for the video game makers, Audrey Cooling, said the companies and the union had reached agreements on almost everything, including pay and safety provisions. She also said the studios offered AI protections that would require consent and fair compensation for all artists.
We are disappointed that the union has decided to walk away when we are so close to an agreement, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations, Cooling said.
The global video game industry generates more than $100 billion in revenue a year, according to video game market forecaster Newzoo. The people who design and bring those games to life are the driving force behind that success, SAG-Aftra said.
Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair and reasonable protections from AI, but rather in blatant exploitation, said Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh.
Last month, union negotiators told The Associated Press that video game studios have refused to provide an equal level of protection from the dangers of AI to all members, particularly motion picture artists.
Votes in favor of the strike
Members voted overwhelmingly last year to give leaders the authority to begin the strike. Concerns about how film studios will use AI helped fuel the union’s four-month film and television walkouts last year.
The latest interactive contract, which expires in November 2022, did not provide protections around AI but did ensure an additional compensation structure for voice actors and motion-capture artists after an 11-month strike that began in October 2016. That walkout marked SAG-Aftra’s first major labor action following the merger of Hollywood’s two largest actors unions in 2012.
According to the union, the video game agreement covers more than 2,500 off-camera performers (voice-over), on-camera performers (motion capture, stunts), stunt coordinators, singers, dancers, puppeteers and background artists.
Amid the tense negotiations, SAG-Aftra created a separate contract in February covering independent and low-budget video game projects. The tiered-budget independent interactive media deal contains some of the AI protections that video game industry titans have rejected.
FUENTE: AP