LOS ANGELES — For hours, motion detection sensors taped to Noshir Dalal’s body tracked his movements as he unleashed airstrikes, air strikes and one-handed attacks that would later appear in a video game. He ended up swinging the sledgehammer in his hand back and forth so many times that he tore a tendon in his forearm. At the end of the day he could no longer open the handle of his car door.
The physical demands of this type of movement work, and the hours put into it, are part of the reason why he believes all video game players should be equally protected from the use of unregulated artificial intelligence.
Video game artists say they fear AI could reduce or eliminate jobs because the technology can be used to replicate one performance in a number of other moves without their consent. That’s a concern that led the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to go on strike in late July.
“If motion capture actors, video game actors in general, only make the money they make that day … that can be a very slippery slope,” said Dalal, who played Bode Akuna in “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.” “Instead of saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to take you back’… they won’t bring me back at all and won’t tell me they’re doing this at all. That’s why transparency and compensation are so important to us in protecting AI.”
Hollywood video game makers announced a work stoppage – the second in a decade – after more than 18 months of negotiations over a new interactive media deal with the gaming industry giants failed over artificial intelligence protections. Union members have said they are not anti-AI. However, artists are concerned that the technology could provide studios with a means to replace it.
Dalal said he took it personally when he heard that the video game companies negotiating a new contract with SAG-AFTRA wanted to consider certain movement work as “data” and not performance.
If gamers were to add up the cutscenes they watch in a game and compare them to the hours they spend controlling characters and interacting with non-player characters, they would see a way they interact with movers and stunt performers . more than you interact with my work,” Dalal said.
“They are the ones who sell the world these games live in, when you create combos and perform crazy, super cool moves using Force powers, or you play Master Chief, or you are Spider-Man swinging through the city,” said he.
Some actors argue that AI could deprive less experienced actors of the opportunity to land smaller background roles such as non-player characters, typically cutting their teeth before landing bigger jobs. The uncontrolled use of AI could also lead to ethical issues if their voices or likenesses are used to create content they morally disagree with, according to artists. That kind of ethical dilemma has recently come to light with gaming “mods,” where fans alter and create new game content. Last year, voice actors spoke out against such mods in the role-playing game “Skyrim,” which used AI to generate actors’ performances and clone their voices for pornographic content.
In video game motion capture, actors wear special lycra or neoprene suits with markings on them. In addition to more involved interactions, actors perform basic movements such as walking, running or holding an object. Animators use these motion capture footage and link them together to respond to what someone playing the game is doing.
“What AI allows game developers and game studios to do is generate a lot of those animations automatically based on previous recordings,” said Brian Smith, assistant professor in Columbia University’s Department of Computer Science. “Studios no longer need to collect new footage for every single game and type of animation they want to create. They can also draw on their archive of past animations.”
If a studio has saved motion capture from a previous game and wants to create a new character, animators can use those saved recordings as training data, he said.
“With generative AI you can generate new data based on that pattern of previous data,” he says.
A spokesperson for the video game companies, Audrey Cooling, said the studios offered “meaningful” AI protections, but the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee said the studios’ definition of who is an “artist” is critical to the issue to understand who that would be. protected.
“We have worked hard to provide proposals with reasonable terms that protect artists’ rights while ensuring we can continue to use the most advanced technology to create a great gaming experience for fans,” said Cooling. “We have proposed terms that provide consent and fair compensation to anyone working under the contract if an AI reproduction or digital replica of their performance is used in games.”
The gaming companies offered pay increases, she said, with an initial increase in scale rates of 7% and an additional increase of 7.64% from November. That is an increase of 14.5% over the term of the contract. The studios had also agreed to increases in per diems, payment for overnight travel and an increase in overtime and bonus payments, she added.
“Our goal is to reach an agreement with the union that will end this strike,” Cooling said.
A 2023 report on the global games market from industry tracker Newzoo predicted that video games would feature more AI-generated voices, similar to the voice acting in Squanch Games’ “High on Life.” Game developers, the Amsterdam company said, will use AI to produce unique voices, bypassing the need to involve voice actors.
“Voice actors may see fewer opportunities in the future, especially as game developers use AI to save development costs and time,” the report said, noting that “major AAA prestige games such as ‘The Last of Us’ and ‘God of War’ use motion capture and voice acting similar to Hollywood.”
Other games, such as “Cyberpunk 2077,” cast celebrities.
Actor Ben Prendergast said data points collected for motion capture do not capture the “essence” of someone’s performance as an actor. The same goes, he said, for AI-generated voices that can’t make the nuanced choices found in large scenes — or smaller, strenuous efforts like screaming for 20 seconds to depict a character’s death by fire.
“The big problem is that someone somewhere has this huge data, and I have no control over it now,” said Prendergast, who voices Fuse in the game “Apex Legends.” “Nefarious or otherwise, someone can now pick up that data and go. We need a character who is ten feet tall, who sounds like Ben Prendergast and who can fight this battleground. And I have no idea this will continue until the game comes out.”
Studios could “get away with that,” he said, unless SAG-AFTRA can secure the AI protections they are fighting for.
“It reminds me of sampling in the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s, where a lot of people were sampling classic songs,” he said. “This is an art. If you don’t protect the rights over their likeness, or their voice or body and now walking, then you can’t really protect people from other efforts.
