Video Game Performers Protest Over Use of AI
More than 300 video game performers and Hollywood actors picketed in front of the Warner Bros. Studios building at the start of August.
They were protesting against what they called an unwillingness from top gaming companies to protect performers against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Standing in front of the crowd, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, from the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, also known as SAG-AFTRA, said that AI has become the most challenging issue in many of the union's negotiations.
He said the union had made deals with studios, streaming services, record labels and other employers but they hadn't been able to reach a deal with video game companies.
The union voted to strike late in July, meaning more than 160,000 union members were stopped from taking new video game projects.
Union leaders say that the work of performers, including voice actors and those who perform the actions that are then digitized for video games, could be replicated by AI and used without permission and fair compensation.
The unregulated use of AI, the union says, is such a threat to performers in the video game industry because of how easy and cheap it is to create convincing digital replicas of performers' voices.
On the picket line, actor and politician Konstantine Anthony said that most people want humans — not AI — to be their storytellers.
Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the video game producers, said the companies have offered AI protections as well as "a significant increase in wages" for performers who are union members.
SAG-AFTRA argued that the studios' definition of who exactly is a "performer" is key to understanding the issue of who would be protected. Ray Rodriguez from SAG-AFTRA said that some physical performances are being treated as "data" by video game companies.
The global video game industry generated nearly $184 billion in revenue in 2023, according to game market forecaster Newzoo, with revenues projected to reach $207 billion in 2026.
