Striking video-game actors picket at Warner Bros. Studios over AI

SAG-AFTRA member and video game actor Zachary Luna participates in a kick-off picket line for the SAG-AFTRA video game strike at Warner Bros. Games headquarters, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Burbank, Calif. Hollywood’s video game performers are currently on strike, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

BURBANK – Striking video game performers staged their first picketing action Thursday, marching outside Warner Bros. Studios to highlight a dispute they say focuses on an unwillingness from top gaming companies to protect voice actors during the emergence of artificial intelligence.

The picket marked the first time striking members of the union demonstrated publicly since game voice actors and performance workers voted to strike last month.

Roughly 2,600 SAG-AFTRA members who work on video games went on strike following a breakdown in contract talks, with artificial intelligence again emerging as the main sticking point.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, called the strike July 22 on behalf of video game actors covered by the Interactive Media Agreement. The strike took effect at 12:01 a.m. July 23.

Video-game actors last went on strike in October 2016, before AI became a major issue.

“We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse AI to the detriment of our members. Enough is enough,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement. “When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate.”

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists warned that a strike would be unavoidable if an agreement on artificial intelligence terms wasn’t reached between the union and video game producers.

The Interactive Media Agreement, which expired in November 2022, covers performers doing voice-over and motion capture work in the video game industry.

“Frankly, it’s stunning that these video game studios haven’t learned anything from the lessons of last year — that our members can and will stand up and demand fair and equitable treatment with respect to A.I., and the public supports us in that,” Crabtree-Ireland said.

Video game actors are seeking a new contract that would require producers to obtain their consent before reproducing their voices or likenesses with AI.

SAG-AFTRA negotiators told reporters there have been gains made in contract discussion over wages and job safety, but that the studios will not make a deal over the regulation of generative AI.

They said that without protections for their members, gaming companies could train AI to replicate an actor’s voice, or create a digital replica of their likeness without consent or fair compensation.\

Audrey Cooling, a spokeswoman for the video game producers, told the Los Angeles Times that the companies were negotiating “in good faith” and pointed out that the two parties had “reached tentative agreements on the vast majority of the proposals.”

She added the companies remained optimistic that a deal is within reach.

But SAG-AFTRA’s Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair, Sarah Elmaleh, said that 18 months of negotiations “have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but rather flagrant exploitation.”

During last year’s Hollywood actors’ strike, residuals and AI became major issues. The strike, which lasted 118 days, ended with a deal that included wage increases, AI safeguards, streaming bonuses and other improvements. (CNS)