Striking US video game actors say AI threatens their jobs

STORY: Hollywood is seeing a new strike this summer over AI – this time, over work in video games.

Striking game voice actors and motion-capture performers held their first picket on Thursday (August 1) in front of Warner Bros. Games, saying that AI is a threat to their careers.

Chief negotiator at SAG-AFTRA Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is at the forefront of the operation:

“They are trying to separate out some of our members and say we’re not going to give these protections to some of you. We’re going to give them just to a few and not to everyone. That’s unacceptable. And the fact is, everybody needs protection from abusive use of AI. Actually, everybody in this country needs protection from it.”

The strike follows failed labor negotiations with game developers focused on AI protections and follows similar strikes last year surrounding film and television.

The gaming strikes began last week.

Among other sticking points is lack of recognition for motion capture actors, whose likenesses are already being fed into AI systems.

Andi Norris performed movements for major games over the last few years including the main antagonist in ‘Diablo IV,’ Lilith, and was the model for most of the female characters in fantasy shooter ‘Immortals of Aveum’.

“You don’t know that I have done these characters because I’m not attached to it, right?,”

The decision to strike follows months of negotiations with major video game companies.

However, analysts have said that major publishers like Electronic Arts and Take-Two will likely stave off a big hit from the strike due to their in-house studios and the lengthy development cycles for games.

The NO FAKES Act, a bipartisan bill in Congress which would make it illegal to make an AI replica of someone’s likeness and voice without their permission, has gained support from the SAG-AFTRA performers union, the Motion Picture Association, The Recording Academy and Disney.

Several global figures have said AI are an urgent policy issue, from Taylor Swift to Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee in this year’s US election.