In the heart of the SXSW festival of culture and technological innovation, SAG-AFTRA stood out. A union bringing together actors, extras and media professionals, the thorny issue of AI has been at the center of their debates for some time. Already in September, 93.32% of voting members of SAG-AFTRA had accepted a strike. Today, and after an agreement signed on the use of AI for dubbing games, the threat of a strike is becoming more significant.
Once again, it was National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland who spoke on this subject. According to him, an actors’ strike in the upcoming video game industry is very likely.
“ [Les chances de faire grève sont de] 50-50, or more likely, we will strike in the next four to six weeks due to our inability to overcome these issues. »
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SXSW Austin, Texas
Although the threat has been present for some time, no action has been taken until now. But in the absence of an update on the agreement signed in January, it is impossible for SAG-AFTRA members to remain passive. Especially with technology like AI, which does not guarantee any security for the actors. It is therefore because of this lack of protection that SAG-AFTRA is considering a strike.
“We want to make sure that the implementation [de l’IA]
is human-centered and focused on increasing [de la
production]and not on replacing people. […] We don’t want to strike, but we’re not going to make deals with these companies that don’t protect our members from abusive and exploitative uses of AI. »Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, National Executive Director of SAG-AFTRA
If union members decide to strike, many studios will be greatly impacted by this decision. Whether it’s Activision, Disney Character Voices International, EA, Insomniac Games, Take 2 Productions or even Warner Bros. Games, none of them will be able to escape it.
It is therefore crucial that the agreements are reviewed in favor of the actors, in order to protect their work. Because while some like Troy Baker seem open to the idea of working with these new technologies, many are wary of their future use. And in a quest for profitability, it is easy to believe that certain companies would benefit from it.