Few social progress has been achieved without struggle. That is why the work of trade unions is important. They help workers when things go wrong, ensure that things continue smoothly when they go well, and organize everything in both cases. That does not mean they are infallible, of course. Because, as SAG-AFTRA has shown, even large unions known for their successes can miss the mark.
Recently, SAG-AFTRA, the film and television actors’ union, has announced that they have reached a historic agreement regarding the use of actors’ voices in video games. The deal is that Replica Studios, a company dedicated to licensing and using AI voice replicas for video games, can make deals with SAG-AFTRA members to create and license digital replicas of their voice. All within ethical agreements. Or so says SAG-AFTRA.
This solves one of the biggest problems with the use of AI-generated voices: the use of voices of people who have not accepted those uses. Something that, by Replica and SAG-AFTRA, solves all the problems they had with the technology.
The problem is that was not the only issue with this technology. Voice actors exist and, as it is evident, they are deeply upset with this treatment. Making themselves heard on social media, voice actors have emphasized how this significantly harms them, as companies can now simply use digitized voices instead of real-life voice actors. Something that will seriously damage their profession, and that SAG-AFTRA does not seem to have taken into consideration at any time.
Of course, we will have to see who and under what circumstances are interested in signing contracts of this kind. And if SAG-AFTRA ends up retracting from this “historic deal”. But what is clear is that, in this case, they do not seem to understand the importance, and the damage that a technology like AI can do to the work of voice actors.
