SAG-AFTRA has been on strike against major video game studios for more than seven months, and the two sides don’t seem to be particularly close to making a deal.
That’s the impression that negotiators for the performers’ union gave to members in a message on Tuesday that warned that the companies’ latest proposals contained “alarming loopholes that will leave our members vulnerable to AI abuse” — the very issue that prompted the union’s current work stoppage in the first place.
The memo, which contained a link to a chart showing the alleged gap between the union’s and the employer’s recent proposals on AI, claimed that the labor group is “frustratingly far apart” in its proposals from the video game studios, though the message said the studios might claim otherwise.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to a representative for the companies that are negotiating the Interactive Media Agreement with the union for comment. Those firms include Disney Character Voices, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros. Games, Insomniac Games and others. In October, that bargaining group stated that the two sides had reached tentative agreements on “24 out of 25 proposals.”
SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and Interactive Media negotiating chair Sarah Elmaleh wrote to members on Tuesday that the employers’ last proposals would allow studios to use union members’ past performances and outside performances “without any of the protections being bargained at all.” The negotiators also alleged that the studios’ proposals would not require them to disclose how they used a digital replica after a performer has given their consent for how it can be used.
With its chart, the union showed that it is attempting to negotiate specific AI language — provisions, for instance, that end performers’ consent for use of their digital replica during a strike, that require additional reports from the studios regarding their use of digital replicas and that necessitate employer disclosure of whether a performer’s voice will be combined with any other voices in a digital replica or whether it will be used for any kind of generative AI chatbot.
In its Tuesday message, the union also implored performers who don’t usually work in video games to reject any jobs offered by struck companies. “If you’re approached for such a role, we urge you to seriously consider the consequences. Not only would you be undermining the efforts of your fellow members, but you would be putting yourself at risk by working without protections against A.I. misuse,” the negotiators wrote.
Nearly two years into their long-running negotiations with video game studios, SAG-AFTRA called a strike against those companies in July 2024. Negotiations have taken place in starts and stops ever since, with union performers occasionally picketing struck companies. The labor group’s latest demonstration, at Disney Character Voices in Burbank, will take place on March 18.
