For over seven months now, SAG-AFTRA has been engaged in a labor dispute with significant video game production companies, and it appears that both parties are still quite far from reaching an agreement.
In a communication to its members on Tuesday, the performers’ union negotiators expressed concern about potential weaknesses in the companies’ recent proposals, stating these gaps could expose their members to misuse by AI – an issue that triggered the ongoing union strike.
In my gaming world, I received a note revealing a link to a chart comparing our union’s and the studios’ AI proposal gaps. It stated that there seems to be a significant disconnect between our proposals, one that could be perceived as quite challenging to bridge. However, they hinted that the studios might try to spin things differently in their favor.
The Hollywood Reporter has contacted representatives from the companies currently in discussions about the Interactive Media Agreement with the union, such as Disney Character Voices, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros. Games, Insomniac Games, and more. In October, this negotiating team announced that they had reached preliminary agreements on 24 out of 25 proposals.
On Tuesday, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director, and Sarah Elmaleh, the Interactive Media negotiating chair, penned a letter to union members stating that the employers’ latest proposals would permit studios to utilize union members’ previous performances and external performances “without any of the safeguards currently under negotiation whatsoever.” The negotiators also claimed that the studios’ proposals do not obligate them to reveal how they employ a digital duplicate following an actor’s agreement on its usage.
Using this diagram, the union is making clear that they are working to establish particular terms regarding AI language usage. For example, they aim to include clauses that withdraw performers’ consent for using their digital counterparts during a strike, request extra reports from studios about their use of digital replicas, and compel employers to disclose if a performer’s voice will be merged with others in a digital replica or if it will be utilized for any type of AI chatbot generation.
In a statement on Tuesday, the union additionally advised actors who typically don’t work in video games to decline job offers from companies currently on strike. They suggested that potential workers should carefully weigh the repercussions. By accepting such jobs, you would not only be undermining your fellow union members’ efforts but also exposing yourself to risk by working without safeguards against AI misuse, as explained in their message.
Back in mid-2024, after nearly two years of back-and-forth talks with game developers, SAG-AFTRA decided to call a strike against them. The discussions have been on and off since then, with union actors sometimes protesting outside the affected studios. Next up on our calendar is a picket at Disney Character Voices in Burbank, happening on March 18. I’m part of this movement, fighting for better working conditions and fair compensation as a gamer and actor.
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2025-03-12 07:54