Video game performers launch strike over compensation and AI

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Video game stories are made up of digital characters, but lots of real performers make them come to life. Starting today, though, many of these people are on strike. Their union, SAG-AFTRA, had been in contract negotiations with major video game companies for more than a year and a half. But those talks have stalled over the issue of artificial intelligence. For more on why, we're joined now by NPR's Mandalit del Barco in our studios in Culver City. Nice to see you, Mandalit.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: Hey. It's great to be here with you, Ailsa. Yeah.

CHANG: It is. OK. So help us understand what these real-life performers do behind the scenes for these video games.

DEL BARCO: Yeah. So we're talking about some of SAG-AFTRA's 160,000 members, those who do voice-over work for video games. They do stunts and also what's called motion capture performance actors, you know, who wear those funny body suits with the sensors all over?

CHANG: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

DEL BARCO: Yeah. Well, their movements are captured digitally on camera, and they later get computerized. Well, those performers say they're worried that video game companies could replace them or use their voices, their faces, their motions in ways that they did not consent to. Veronica Taylor, she's a voice actor who told me it's already been happening.

VERONICA TAYLOR: I have found my voice in voice banks where people can take my voice and make it say things I've never said. So that's already out there.

DEL BARCO: Yeah. So performers are on strike to make sure that they get some sort of protection from the use of AI in addition to getting fairly compensated, some right to control their likeness, even if they're portraying a zombie, a creature, an alien, a hero, a villain.

CHANG: Well, what do the video game companies say about all of this?

DEL BARCO: Well, you know, for nearly two years, SAG-AFTRA after I had been negotiating with gaming companies such as Disney, WB Games and Electronic Arts. Another is Activision. They're responsible for Call Of Duty. And on the list is the company Take Two, though we've learned that next year's Grand Theft Auto 6 will not be impacted by the strike.

CHANG: OK.

DEL BARCO: Yeah. So I got a statement from Audrey Cooling. She's a spokesperson for the video game producers. She wrote that they are disappointed that the union walked away so close to a deal. And she also said that they had offered what they called meaningful AI protections. But, you know, after the strike was announced yesterday, I talked to Andi Norris. She's on the union's negotiating team. And she's portrayed many video game characters.

ANDI NORRIS: What they are saying is that some of these performances, specifically for movement, is just data. I can crawl all over the floor and the walls as, you know, such and such creature. And they will argue that that is not performance, and so that is not subject to their AI protections.

DEL BARCO: And, you know, she argues that her work is not just a data point. It's done by her as a very real person.

CHANG: Sure. Well, you know, we should note, Mandalit, that many of our colleagues here at NPR, we're also members of SAG-AFTRA, but we work under a completely different contract.

DEL BARCO: Right.

CHANG: That said, weren't SAG-AFTRA members working in film and TV just on strike last summer?

DEL BARCO: Yeah, they were. Yeah. And this one is a lot like last year's strike. And, you know, after five months, the film and TV performers were finally able to negotiate better pay and benefits and also those AI protections. The union was also able to secure a similar agreement with animation companies. But yesterday, another video game actor, Zeke Alton, he told me it's not just performers who should be worried.

ZEKE ALTON: We're talking about emerging technology that is going to affect the entire world. We just happen to be the canary in the coal mine.

DEL BARCO: Yeah. And right now in San Diego, some of those video game performers are talking about the strike during Comic-Con. They got the union's green light to go on panels and events there. So I'm sure we'll be hearing more about these issues.

CHANG: That is NPR's Mandalit del Barco. So good to see you, Mandalit.

DEL BARCO: You too, Ailsa. Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.