Video game makers see actors as AI 'data,' says union on strike

Artificial intelligence was key to last year's Hollywood strikes, and it has now sparked a second walkout by those actors who work in a far larger industry, at the heart of advancing technology -- video games.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) on Friday began its second strike in nine months, this time against gaming giants that dominate an industry which grosses 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 AI to build game characters -- the latest talks are posing unique challenges, union negotiators told AFP.

Technology companies, by their nature, tend to view actors simply "as data," said Ray Rodriguez, lead negotiator for the video game contract.

"They're getting performances that are nuanced, that are informed by the psychology of the character and the circumstance," he said. "That's what makes it compelling."

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But "the fact that they see themselves as technology companies" is directly connected to "their unwillingness to perceive the performance value," he added.

'Secrecy' of video game companies

The work stoppage began immediately after midnight Friday.

The struck deal concerns some 2,600 artists who provide voice dubbing services for video games, or whose physical movements are recorded in order to animate computer-generated characters.

The strike followed more than a year and a half of fruitless negotiations between the union and the likes of Activision, Disney, Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. Games.

Talks have been sporadic, as video game companies have not appointed dedicated full-time negotiators, and are "absolutely obsessed with secrecy," said Rodriguez.

There are other complicating factors.

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Video game characters often fuse multiple human performers -- for example, one person may voice a hero whose movements are motion-captured by another actor.

It's "a really joyful, cool" way to collaborate, said Sarah Elmaleh, chair of the union's negotiating committee.

But video game companies have tried to exploit that ambiguity to create "loopholes" in their counteroffers, she warned.

This is because video game companies can use AI not just to replicate a specific actor, but to create "new" voices or body movements from a composite of human performers.

Such use of generative AI can make it far harder for actors to trace their work, and therefore to deny consent or get paid.

"There are a lot of ways that you could try to be evasive around this," Elmaleh told AFP, at this week's Comic-Con gathering in San Diego, California.

Jobs could 'go away'

Picket lines outside iconic Hollywood studios, often attended by A-list stars, helped draw attention to last summer's strikes.

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The video game walkout may call for a more "surprising and diverse" approach, said Elmaleh.

She 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 industrial action cannot come soon enough, as AI rapidly encroaches on her job.

"I do ancillary characters, those NPCs (non-player characters) that give you side quests, characters that you fight and die, a lot of creature voices," she said.

"That's the first work that's 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 out or scraping by will be left behind, Rousseau warned.

For vulnerable actors, still reeling from the impact of the Hollywood strikes, the idea of more time out of work is challenging.

But "the way that strike went last year really demonstrated to us that we are right about the issue," said Rodriguez.

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"It did not make us reluctant to go into another fight about AI. In fact, it underscored the righteousness of fighting this fight, and the need to fight it now."

Source: AFP