Video game performers strike over AI: 'It puts our existence in jeopardy'

Video game performers breathe life into the monsters, superheroes, zombies and villains of countless beloved video games, but on Friday many of them took on a new role: striking workers.

The performers for major game companies like Activision and Warner Bros. stopped work just after midnight. After 18 months of negotiating with a group of video game production companies, the workers said they aren't satisfied with the artificial intelligence protections on the table.

Their union, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said they want informed consent for the artificial intelligence use of their voices and images. SAG-AFTRA's chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement that the video game performers are demanding "the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming, and music."

Dispute over artificial intelligence protections

Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the video game producers, said that the companies are disappointed in the move, and that the union and producers have made agreements on 24 out of 25 proposals.

“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 [Interactive Media Agreement]," Cooling said in a statement.

The union disagrees. Voice actor Sarah Elmaleh chairs the negotiating committee for the workers, and said the video game companies do not consider workers who act out movements in video games as “performers,” and therefore don't want to give them AI protections.

" These are folks who are asked to go in and to run, and to walk, and to slip and to fall… To make sure that it seems like a soldier falling, or a civilian running. That it's a creature, a monster moving around a space, stalking," Elmaleh said. "That standard of making sure that they're embodying someone specific, so that this character feels real and believable and unique, is obviously performance."

Actors strike also took on AI protections

Artificial intelligence was also a central issue in last year's historic actors strike, which lasted 118 days. Actors with SAG-AFTRA secured informed consent for use of their likeness in the deal they eventually made with Hollywood studios and streamers, although some actors have said that deal didn't go far enough.

"Let me be really clear. What we have on the table right now is a lot less than what we've achieved in any other contract. A lot less," said voice actor and SAG-AFTRA member Zeke Alton at a press conference Thursday. "So many holes that it puts our existence as performers in jeopardy."