Striking US video game actors warn AI threatens jobs

Video game voice actors call strike over failed labor contract negotiations focus on AI related workers protections

Striking video game voice actors and motion-capture performers held their first picket on Thursday in front of Warner Bros. Games and said artificial intelligence was a threat to their professions.

“The models that they’re using have been trained on our voices without our consent at all, with no compensation,” “Persona 5 Tactica” voice actor and video game strike captain, Leeanna Albanese, told Reuters on the picket line.

Video game voice actors and motion-capture performers called a strike last week over failed labor contract negotiations focused on AI-related protections for workers.

This marks the latest strike in Hollywood, opens new tab after union writers and actors marched on the picket lines last year with AI also being a major concern.

"I think when you remove the human element from any interactive project, whether it be a video game or TV show, an animated series, a movie, and you put AI in replacement for the human element, we can tell! I'm a gamer, I'm a digester of this content," British "Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare & Warzone" actor Jeff Leach said.

The decision to strike follows months of negotiations with major videogame companies including Activision Productions Electronic Arts  Epic Games, Take-Two Interactive  Disney Character Voices (and Warner Bros Discovery's WB Games.

However, major video game publishers including Electronic Arts and Take-Two will likely stave off a big hit from the strike due to their in-house studios and the lengthy development cycles for games, analysts have said.

The strike also brings with it a larger call to action across Hollywood as people in the industry advocate for a law that can protect them from AI risks as well.

“There’s not a larger national law to protect us, so the NO FAKES Act is basically legislation with the goal of protecting our identities, protecting our personhood on a national scale as opposed to on a state level,” Albanese said.

The NO FAKES Act, a bipartisan bill in Congress which would make it illegal to make an AI replica of someone’s likeness and voice without their permission, has gained support from the SAG-AFTRA performers union, the Motion Picture Association, The Recording Academy and Disney.

From Grammy-winning artist Taylor Swift to Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running in the 2024 presidential election, leaders in entertainment and beyond say deep fakes created from AI are a pressing policy matter.