IBL News | New York
The Hollywood union SAG-AFTRA signed a deal this month with AI voiceover start-up Replica Studios that set terms for the use of generative AI in video games.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director, said that terms include informed consent for the use of AI to create digital voice replicas, along with their safe storage.
He explained at a press conference in Las Vegas’ CES.
“This is an evolutionary step forward. AI technology is not something we can block. It’s not something we can stop. That’s not a tactic or a strategy that’s ever worked for labor in the past.”
In the 2023 strike, SAG-AFTRA reached a deal with the major studios and TV producers, establishing consent and compensation requirements for the use of AI to replicate actors’ likenesses.
The deal did not block studios from training AI systems to create “synthetic” actors that bear no resemblance to real performers.
SAG-AFTRA is now engaged in a similar negotiation with a coalition of major video game studios. The union has obtained a strike authorization vote, though talks continue.
Replica Studios sells AI voices to video game developers from its library of “ethically licensed” voices.
.
