SAG-AFTRA Approves AI Voice Actors, Enrages the VA Community::SAG-AFTRA has approved AI voice actors and partnered with Replica Studios, enraging the voice acting community on a global scale.
SAG-AFTRA Approves AI Voice Actors, Enrages the VA Community::SAG-AFTRA has approved AI voice actors and partnered with Replica Studios, enraging the voice acting community on a global scale.
… Isn’t sag the one that was just up in arms over AI? Wasn’t that a huge part of the fucking protests?
For film and TV, yes. For video games, no.
If you can convince the lowest Hollywood actor he’s better than the best video game VA, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.
Hah, clever and depressing remix of that classic quote.
Yes, but somehow this deal will be okay even though it looks like some pretty big names in the VO/A community were never asked for their opinion or approval.
When it says “SAG-AFTRA Approves” - doesn’t that imply that all union members were given a vote?
In fact, yes, yes it does…
"The agreement between the leading AI voice company and the world’s largest performers’ union will enable Replica to engage SAG-AFTRA members under a fair, ethical agreement to safely create and license a digital replica of their voice. Licensed voices can be used in video game development and other interactive media projects from pre-production to final release.
Approved by affected members of the union’s voiceover performer community, this contract marks an important step towards the ethical use of AI voices…"
I see a lot of union voice actors speaking out on social media that they weren’t even asked about this.
“Approved by affected members” is the critical part of the quote. So no it absolutely wasn’t “all union members”, they evidently cherry picked who voted on this.
Yes, keyword affected members… other members weren’t affected. They didn’t need the whole union vote.
This definitely sounds like a case of the old union saying “Brother brother in the hall. In the field fuck 'em all”.
The SAG protests were pretty transparently about protecting old money. Actors with hundreds to thousands of hours of footage already out there that can be easily turned into AI models.
You only need like an hour of clear voice samples to train an AI VA. More is better, but even a half hour can be enough to be passable.