Los Angeles, US, July 26 (EFE).- Hollywood video game actors voted Thursday to go on strike after contract negotiations with major video game studios failed over protections for artificial intelligence.
The strike, called by the US Screen Actors Guild SAG-AFTRA, which includes video game voice actors and motion capture artists, will take effect Friday after nearly two years of negotiations to reach a new Interactive Media Agreement.
“Although agreements have been reached on many issues important to SAG-AFTRA , the employers refuse to plainly affirm, in clear and enforceable language, that they will protect all performers covered by this contract in their AI language,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement.
Without that protection, video game giants could “abuse AI” to replicate the voices or likenesses of actors without their consent or fair financial compensation, the union added.
“We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse AI to the detriment of our . Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate,” added SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher.
The union, with the signatures of more than 35,000 , voted in September to authorize a strike to make progress on wage increases and to protect workers from artificial intelligence in the new agreement after the previous contract expired in November 2022.
“Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but rather in blatant exploitation,” said Sarah Elmaleh, chair of the Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee
“We reject this paradigm – we will not leave any of our behind, nor will we wait any longer for sufficient protections,” she added. EFE
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