As the use of AI rises in games, SAG-AFTRA is fighting to make the tech ethical
Every year, the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) acts as an all-important watercooler moment for the video game industry. It’s the one time a year where developers can widely gather to share their innovations, discuss the state of the industry, and advocate for change at scale. This year’s show, though, is especially crucial. It comes amid a catastrophic wave of layoffs across studios that’s put well over 10,000 individuals out of work. That’s happening as executives look to tools like generative AI to cut costs, which has created a firestorm over labor issues.
Unionization and worker protections are set to be the headline of this year’s show, and there’s a major player in attendance that will speak to those issues. Representatives from the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) will be on hand this week, hosting panels on queer representation and the dangers of deepfake technology in games. While the union will speak to several parallel issues currently plaguing the industry, it’ll also be a key voice in championing the ethical use of AI during a week where that’s sure to be a heated subject.
In a conversation with Digital Trends ahead of GDC, SAG-AFTRA’s Sarah Elmaleh, chair of the Interactive Negotiating Committee, and Ray Rodriguez, chief contracts officer, spoke in-depth about the union’s position on AI in gaming. Both Elmaleh and Rodriguez laid out what the committee believes is the correct way to handle a technology that’s unlikely to go away.
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“I certainly view AI with apprehension and a great deal of concern about what could happen, but I don’t view it in an exclusively negative light,” Rodriguez tells Digital Trends. “It is the challenge that is before us, and it’s a
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