Sag-Aftra strike: ‘They’re crushing human beings beneath their feet’

Actors from the world of gaming went on strike last week, in a row about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and the threat it poses to their livelihoods. It has reignited the debate about how the entertainment industry is adapting to new technology.

When actor Jennifer Hale talks, you listen. Her delivery is measured and surgically precise, yet her tone has a warmth that most ASMR creators would envy. She could read the phone book and you’d pay attention.

It’s unsurprising, then, that her voice is her livelihood, and that she takes the threat to her industry posed by AI so seriously.

“They see that the work of our souls is nothing more than a commodity to generate profits for them,” she says of several of the major gaming companies. “They don’t see that they’re crushing human beings beneath their feet in blind pursuit of money and profit, it’s disgusting.”

From Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect series to Samus Arran in the Metroid titles, Hale’s list of gaming credits is as long as your arm and her voice is familiar to millions.

Hale is one of the most high-profile voice actors in the world. She’s joined 2,500 members of the US actors union SAG-AFTRA who perform in games, by striking until games divisions of prominent companies like Activision, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney and EA agree to protections around the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

She tells BBC News: “They could, for example, take all my performances in a game, let’s say Mass Effect, feed them into a machine, not too long down the timeline, spit out an entirely new Mass Effect, with a performance that was entirely generated by AI.”

Concerns about AI were one of the key issues in last year’s 118-day actors strike organised by SAG-AFTRA. Terms were eventually agreed with Hollywood studios for film and TV actors.

But the dispute around videogames has rumbled on, finally boiling over into a strike on 25 July. While both sides have agreed on a host of issues, AI protections remains a sticking point.

Hale may be one of the most successful voice actors in the business but in contrast to those who work in front of the camera and despite the games industry generating revenue estimated to be around $189bn (£147bn) in 2024, voice acting in games is considerably less well paid than film and TV work.

“I’m a single working mother who has bills to pay and a life to provide for my kid, as voice actors we don’t get paid star salaries. Under what they’re proposing on the other side of this contract, they would pay me nothing.”

Audrey Cooling, a representative of the 10 game companies negotiating with the union, told BBC News: “Our offer is directly responsive to SAG-AFTRA’s concerns and extends meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation to all performers working under the IMA [Interactive Media Agreement].”

This is an ongoing deal to cover artists working in video games. Hale argues not all games companies are the problem, some businesses can and are making deals which work for all sides.

“Anybody sitting in their basement, anywhere making a game can go to SAG and say, hey, my budget is small, I only have this much money. I really want to work with these good actors. What can I do in SAG will say, absolutely, here you go, how big are you? Great here’s your structure.”

She adds this strike might be a symptom of a growing unease in the wider workplace with AI.

“We actors are the canary in the coal mine. You can see them coming for us, but if they dismiss it, if it gets swept under the rug because we’re just performers, what does that mean?”

On the other side of the Atlantic, John Barclay, assistant general secretary of the UK actor’s union Equity, released a statement of solidarity with its stateside counterparts.

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with SAG-AFTRA as partners in a global fight to secure fair pay and protect our members’ rights, which could not be more urgent as we move forward with artificial intelligence innovation.”

Regulations around strikes are different in the UK, Equity members aren’t striking and neither will UK members of SAG-AFTRA be compelled to.

Actor David Menkin has provided the voice for Luke Skywalker in Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, as well as voice work in Final Fantasy XVI and Horizon Zero Dawn, amongst a host of other games.

He explains: “Here in the UK, we don’t have a mutually agreed contract between the union Equity and the producers that make these games. So therefore, even if you’re SAG-AFTRA but you were hired on a UK based contract, you can’t stop, you cannot strike, you cannot leave the production, you have to fulfil everything in your contract.”

He tells me he’ s concerned that US companies may try and work around the issue of striking American actors by coming to the UK and hiring British talent to perform in games instead.

“All we can do is make sure that if the work is dumped in the UK, that we are making sure that UK-based actors are fully informed.”

In the US the strike continues and while she waits for both sides to return to the negotiating table, Jennifer Hale hopes long time creative concerns will overcome short-term commercial gain.

“I hope they see that we are all in this together. I don’t understand why they’re willing to kill us all off to increase things a few percentage points, it makes no sense to me.”