Video game performers reach agreement with 80 video games on AI terms

Actor Sena Bryer, second from left, joins other demonstrators in a SAG-AFTRA video game actor strike picket line outside Warner Bros. Studios on Wednesday, Aug 28, 2024, in Burbank, California. — AP

LOS ANGELES: After striking for over a month, video game performers have reached agreements with 80 games that have signed interim or tiered budget agreements with the performers’ union and accepted the artificial intelligence provisions they have been seeking.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists began striking in July after negotiations with game industry giants that began more than a year and a half ago came to a halt over AI protections. Union leaders say game voice actors and motion capture artists’ likenesses could be replicated by AI and used without their consent and without fair compensation.