SAG-AFTRA Reaches Interim Agreement on AI Protections With 80 Video Games

Just over a month after SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator and executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland called for a strike against video game companies, 80 games have agreed to tiered-budget or interim agreements, which include “common sense A.I. protections.”

“We applaud those video game companies signing our tiered-budget and interim agreement,” read a statement from Crabtree-Ireland. “Not only are they doing the right thing by their workers, they’re also helping to preserve the human art, ingenuity and creativity that fuels interactive storytelling.”

“These agreements signal that the video game companies in the collective bargaining group do not represent the will of the larger video game industry,” Crabtree-Ireland continued. “The many companies that are happy to agree to our A.I. terms prove that these terms are not only reasonable, but feasible and sustainable for businesses.”

Although not all the video game companies that have agreed were named, representatives from Little Bat Games and Studio Wildcard issued statements in support of the agreement. The video game strike started on July 26 following 18 months of negotiations.

The video game companies impacted by the work stoppage include Insomniac Games Inc., WB Games Inc., Epic Games Inc., Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Take 2 Productions Inc., VoiceWorks Productions Inc., and Disney Character Voices Inc.

On Wednesday, the guild announced that it had reached an agreement with video game developer Lightspeed L.A. to work under the Interim Interactive Media Agreement.

The Interactive Media Agreement, which protects about 2,600 voice and motion capture performers in the video game industry, expired in November 2022. In the latest contract negotiations, video game performers are seeking consent for the creation of AI replicas, or the use of their voice and likeness using AI, and compensation for use.