The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, known as SAG-AFTRA, received an overwhelming 98.32% vote in favor of a work stoppage to pressure game companies into agreeing to SAG-AFTRA’s terms for actors, video game voice performers, and motion capture artists to receive fair wages and not be replaced by AI. This issue has been negotiated with major game studios such as Epic, EA, and Activision for a long time but has not yet been resolved.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the executive director of SAG-AFTRA, stated that after five rounds of negotiations, it is clear that game companies are not willing to fully engage on the issues of wages that keep up with inflation and the uncontrolled and unsafe use of AI.
The SAG-AFTRA website also indicates that for many actors, their next job may be their last, as companies begin to use AI to train with employee voices, including in the realm of Hollywood. Many writers and creatives are seeking clearer guidelines on the extent of AI usage in writing scripts for TV shows and movies.
TLDR: SAG-AFTRA received overwhelming support for a work stoppage to demand fair wages and preserve jobs for actors, voice performers, and motion capture artists in the face of increasing AI usage in the gaming industry. Negotiations with major game studios have not yielded satisfactory results, leading to potential disruption in the industry.
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