Anger as SAG-AFTRA Strikes Deal for AI Voice Acting in Video Games

This wasn't one of the things they were fighting against? I'm confused...

So if actors who participate in movies and TV shows don’t like AI to disrupt their work they go on strike, but voice actors for video games can go f… themselves apparently…

This seems like the opposite of what they were calling for.

This has been my professional experience with unions as well. They protect their bread winners and screw everyone else.

Lol they're talking about of both sides of their mouths. If my understand of all of this has been correct, this is a bullish move.

what a great union they have

Have any of these pro-AI people seen the Terminator movies? We are slowly heading towards our own Judgement Day.

@Balie3000 lmao it would be something wouldn't it? Imagine a world where everybody actually is equal in their struggle against a merciless unforgiving army of AI cyborgs..unless you identify as one of the AI cyborgs of course 🤔..on a more realistic note am I correct in reading into this that the voice actors can license their voice therefore securing payment? Isn't that finding the middle ground where people can be happy that they still get paid royalty without having to actually do work whilst looking for the higher paying jobs? Seems like having your cake and actually getting to have a nibble to me.

The sheer number of legal battles and decisions that are going to result from the wider adoption of AI in the creative arts is going to be staggering.

Anyway, like it or not, this mass adoption is coming. The best way to mitigate the damage/industry disturbance it'll cause is to work with it, which, I'm guessing, is the mindset behind this deal.

Does anybody else find it ironic that the voice actor complaining about this voiced the main character in deus ex that was heavily augmented by AI tech?

@DeepEyes It was, which is why a lot of people are scratching their heads over it.

This must have been a concession, right?

AI will keep muddying the waters in gaming for years to come in terms to voice acting. First it’ll start with quest giver NPCs, then they’ll gradually expand AI’s role. VAs better read their contracts over carefully (if they don’t already) or some companies will push the boundaries as far as they can go for likeness

I've been following a lot of Youtubers who actually are genuine actors and entertainment lawyers and such, and a lot of them feel absolutely betrayed by the strikes.
For all of the bluster about "fighting for a better deal" and all of that, if you really read into it, they actually didn't win much of anything at all besides a slightly better cut and slightly tighter restrictions.
They brought an industry to its knees and walked away with a pyrrhic victory.

This is lame all around.

That's a head scratcher. I totally get the actors who are confused about this move. I'm right there with them as I fail to see how this is in any way "AI done right".

Just goes to show Unions aren't always in it to "protect" worker rights like some folks think. It be nice if that was the case but it just isn't.

Why is the tech industry pursuing AI so hard? I don't want it or need it. I'm sure many, many others feel the same way.

This seems really strange, how on earth was something like this passed? I've looked up some other articles and it seems like it caught pretty much everyone by surprise and wasn't put to a vote or anything.

Feels like all this will accomplish is alienate almost the entire voice acting community and undermine trust in the union. I wonder if it's just a complete own-goal or if something more sinister is going on behind the scenes.

Who cares? If AI can do the job as well, if not better than so overpaid 'media' star who is only reading scripts/lines that someone else 'wrote' .

Video games have somehow now ended up being affected by these 'precious media darlings' who won't read a few lines of dialogue for less than several thousand. Somehow having some famous 'media' star is now a marketing gimmick too - Keanu Reeves (Cyberpunk) being the most obvious.

If you can't tell the difference between 'AI' and real humans - either because AI is that good or because so many parts are 'AI' in a game - Cortana being perhaps one of the more famous 'AI' in Game, Ghost from Destiny (voiced by Peter Dinklage and then Nolan North).

The ONLY issue I have is if they ASK AI to sound exactly like a Famous Actor/person without their permission specifically and/or use their 'likeness' in game too

I mean, we've got robots building cars, and self-serve checkouts... I guess if corporations can start phasing out actors too, it'll ultimately save them a lot of cash.

In all of this backlash, won't someone think of the shareholders?

So this means if they are paying the original artist their voice can be used for some AI reinterpretation of their voice in multiple titles?

Seems like this would absolutely screw a large number of actors and favour only the few who agree to it though, as "the few's" voice can be used in a bunch of games while they are not present, while "the many" miss out on roles that would usually be spread out more evenly because people obviously can't record as prolifically as an AI. This also means there is pressure to sign up and agree to it, or you will just not get any work as this gets more and more prominent.

Crazy s***

And the award for best performance goes to... Replica AI

I don't get what the big deal is. This is just an option. No one has to make that deal with Replica.

I happen to live in the country with the largest number of unions per capita. So I am confident to say that, generally, unions do much, much more harm than good.

This is a tiny example.

I'm surprised there's complaints (unless i'm getting this wrong) but isn't this the same as the late Sir Sean Connery copyrighting his face and voice so if any one used this they had to pay royalties? This way great VA's can take on multiple roles from their couch and still get paid right? I understand that early on it will only be the more popular VA's used but with lots of mods out and coming out for rpgs that make npc's have multiple voice lines this would be a boon for lesser known VA's. They will need to revamp the payment structure for sure but it can be done. A shop keeper/ quest giver will get asked more random questions than villager A.

@BacklogBrad in Ontario the post secondary teachers union, OPSEU, screwed over students and teachers alike then immediately found their president of 17 odd years in deep doo doo for embezzlement and misappropriation of funds. Yeah, I don’t support unions anymore. I support the people that need them, not the orgs themselves.

YOU CANT RESIST AI !!!!! It will take all of our jobs eventually. And humans will be sooner or later faded out and evolve into human/mech hybrids.. then just into all tech never dying beings with no souls.... thank you technology

@DeathlySW yeah they are a great idea but almost never implemented successfully. Seeing how much money they collect is upsetting too. I got to the point where I treat union jobs as a last resort.

I'm currently in the banking industry and being able to leave to the competition if I hear things are better somewhere else seems to be enough for them to make sure our pay, benefits etc are satisying. Probably a better system than if we were all in a union and all companies were agreeing on the same workplace policy.