Artificial intelligence was the key to last year’s Hollywood strikes, and now it has sparked a second walkout by actors working in a much larger industry at the heart of technological progress — video games.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) on Friday launched its second strike in nine months, this time against the gaming giants that dominate an industry that rakes in well over $100 billion each year.
And while many demands are the same — consent and compensation for actors, whose voices and movements are used by artificial intelligence to create game characters — the latest talks pose unique challenges, union negotiators told AFP .
Tech companies, by nature, tend to see actors simply “as a given,” said Ray Rodriguez, chief video game contract negotiator.
“They get performances that are nuanced, that are informed by the psychology of the character and the circumstances,” he said. “That’s what makes it exciting.”
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But “the fact that they see themselves as technology companies” is directly linked to “their reluctance to see performance value,” he added.
“Secrecy” of video game companies
The work stoppage began just after midnight on Friday.
The settlement covers about 2,600 artists who provide voice dubbing services for video games or whose physical movements are captured to bring computer-generated characters to life.
The strike followed more than a year and a half of fruitless negotiations between the union and companies including Activision, Disney, Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. Games.
The talks have been sporadic, as the video game companies have not appointed dedicated full-time negotiators and are “absolutely obsessed with secrecy,” Rodriguez said.
There are other complicating factors.
Video game characters often merge multiple human performers — for example, one person might voice a hero whose movements are captured by another actor.
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It’s “a really happy, nice” way to work together, said Sarah Elmale, chairwoman of the union’s bargaining committee.
But video game companies have sought to exploit this ambiguity to create “loopholes” in their counteroffers, he warned.
This is because video game companies can use AI not just to reproduce a specific actor, but to create “new” voices or body movements from a lineup of human performers.
This use of genetic AI can make it much more difficult for actors to trace their work and therefore withhold consent or pay.
“There are a lot of ways you could try to avoid this issue,” Elmaleh told AFP at this week’s Comic-Con gathering in San Diego, California.
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Pickets outside iconic Hollywood studios, often attended by A-list stars, helped draw attention to last summer’s strikes.
Exiting video games may require a more “surprise and diverse” approach, Elmaleh said.
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He suggested strike strategies could focus on “streamers and the online arena, as well as the in-person arena,” without elaborating.
For video game voice actors like Lindsay Rousseau, any industry action can’t come soon enough, as artificial intelligence is quickly encroaching on her work.
“I do supporting characters, those NPCs (non-player characters) that give you side quests, characters that you fight and die, a lot of creature voices,” he said.
“This is the first project that is going to go away.”
Without AI protections, only a few famous voice actors at the top of the video game industry will make a living, while those starting or leaving will be left behind, Rousseau warned.
For vulnerable actors, still reeling from the impact of the Hollywood strikes, the idea of more time off the job is challenging.
But “the way this strike went last year really showed us that we’re right about it,” Rodriguez said.
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“It didn’t make us reluctant to go into another AI battle. In fact, it underscored the justice of fighting this battle and the need to fight it now.”
Source: AFP