Actors union SAG-AFTRA gets first developer to agree to its terms over use of AI

SAG-AFTRA, the labour union for American actors, has secured its first agreement with a developer over the use of AI in performances.

The union started a strike on July 26 after it said it had failed to negotiate acceptable protections around the use of AI for its members.

While the strike remains active, video game companies and their performance production arms likely won’t be able to hire unionised actors to perform motion capture or voiceover work for their games.

However, Tencent-owned studio Lightspeed LA has become the first developer to sign up to the union’s Interim Interactive Media Agreement, which makes numerous promises including protection for actors who don’t want their voice to be used in AI performances.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Lightspeed’s agreement means the strike no longer affects it, and it can now begin to hire performers represented by SAG-AFTRA for The Last Sentinel, its open-world game for which it’s already signed up Troy Baker (The Last of Us, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle) as performance director.

“Lightspeed LA has always recognised and valued the irreplaceable role of talent, which injects creativity, innovation, and the human touch into video games,” studio general manager Steve Martin said.

“Supporting our cast is the right thing to do and there was never any hesitation to consider the performer protections that anchor this agreement.”

SAG-AFTRA’s Sarah Elmaleh, who is the negotiating committe chair for the agreement, added: “This strike has always been as much about the start of work with proper AI protections as it is stopping work without them.

“Lightspeed LA understands how crucial these protections are to the actors, and followed through with an outstanding commitment not only to this cast, but their future casts.

“They made their genuine appreciation of performers as contributors concrete and impactful. I am thrilled about this partnership and cannot wait to see what this talented team of developers and performers makes