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2 months ago
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Just a few hours into their strike against the major video game companies, SAG-AFTRA made some noise at San Diego Comic-Con by speaking about the “existential threat” of artificial intelligence, which they say has been holding up a new deal for nearly two years.
At a convention panel Friday morning, Ashly Burch, Noshir Dalal, Sarah Elmaleh and Shannon Woodward received a resounding round of applause from fans as they discussed the work stoppage (and sported SAG-AFTRA strike shirts).
“A.I. is a huge concern — and especially a huge concern for our professions, for voice actors and movement performers,” said Burch, who is known for her roles in Mythic Quest and Horizon Forbidden West. “So we have to take a stand, because the protections that our employers put across the table are woefully insufficient and are going to put a lot, a lot, a lot of people out of work.”
Burch added that she hoped the panel, which was already on the Comic-Con schedule to discuss their expansive work on some incredibly popular video games like The Last of Us Part II, “showcases how irreplaceable we are.”
Elmaleh, who is the chair of the Interactive Media Agreement negotiating committee, also explained that the convention is exempt from the voice actors’ strike rules, meaning they are free to promote their projects this weekend. This is a departure from last year’s strike against the union’s film and TV contracts, which prevented actors from discussing any of their work under that agreement.
“We’re really excited for this action to be about being visible and being loud about the stuff that we work on, the fact that we love working on it, and, of course, the things that we need to protect it forever,” she said.
Of the A.I. provisions needed in order to make an agreement, Elmaleh said: “We do want to be collaborative, and there is a world in which, if we recreate the kind of agency that we have in the work as it is now, then we can have that conversation.”
She explained that their contract provisions “are built around consent [and] transparency that provides the basis for a meaningful consent…and proper compensation. We’re willing to work with you, but we need to talk about how this tool is going to be used, and we deserve that right.”
The anticipation of a strike has been growing over the last several months, since SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director said in March that the union was moving in that direction. Last week, the National Board put the power in Crabtree-Ireland’s hands to call a strike when he saw fit.
The 10 companies facing the strike are Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Epic Games, Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Take 2 Productions Inc., VoiceWorks Productions Inc., and WB Games Inc.
