New SAG-AFTRA Game Localization Contract Restricts AI Usage in Dubbing

On November 14, 2024, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) announced an updated version of a previous agreement that covers the localization of video game projects produced in a non-English language.

With approximately 160,000 members, SAG-AFTRA calls itself the “world’s largest union representing performers and broadcasters.” The union also represents voiceover artists, including those who provide dubbing. 

As comics and gaming website Bleeding Cool reported, the new Independent Interactive Localization Agreement is essentially an updated version of the base terms from the union’s Tiered Budget Independent Interactive Media Agreement, plus AI protections.

The new agreement is signed on a project-by-project basis by employers whose project was originally scripted in a language other than English, and whose intellectual property owner is based outside of the United States.

“Many brilliant, beloved games come to market in the U.S. from other countries, projects which need highly skilled localizing performers,” Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh was quoted as saying in the press release. Elmaleh added that “[m]any such companies have already signed Interim Localization Agreements”. 

The contract was reportedly crafted “based on direct feedback from the community that does this work.”

However, the introduction of the Independent Interactive Localization Agreement does not interrupt an ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

The union called for the strike, effective July 26, 2024, in response to stalled negotiations, which began in October 2022. The use of AI still presents a major hurdle, as SAG-AFTRA explained:

“Although agreements have been reached on many issues important to SAG-AFTRA members, the employers refuse to plainly affirm, in clear and enforceable language, that they will protect all performers covered by this contract in their A.I. language.”

The strike applies to over 130 video game projects currently signed to the union’s interim and independent agreements; the goal is for those signatories to sign updated agreements. 

Human-Made Recordings and Digital Replicas

The Interactive Media Agreement, originally introduced in 2017, was extended until 2022. At that point, it was replaced by the Tiered-Budget Independent Interactive Media Agreement along with the Interim Interactive Media Agreement and, most recently, the Independent Interactive Localization Agreement.

Katie Sikkema, a union contracts consultant, explained on LinkedIn that the updated agreement “includes a mandatory buyout of all reuse and integration for an additional 50% of scale, which means the IP owner can use the (original, human-made) recordings for whatever they want with no further fees due (except merchandising/talking toys, which must be separately negotiated).”

The contract describes generative AI (GenAI) as a “subset of AI that learns patterns from data and then produces content based on those patterns.” 

Interestingly, GenAI is considered separate from “digital replicas” of performers, including voice actors, though the term is not defined. To that point, employers are required to provide the union advance notice if they intend to use GenAI to generate material other than digital replicas. 

Employers that want to create GenAI material using prompts including a performer’s name, or a unique character associated with that performer, must get consent from the performer and bargain for the use of GenAI material at a specific minimum rate.

SAG-AFTRA’s strikes have brought attention to the issues GenAI presents for the entertainment industry, an area ripe with opportunities for language AI startups specializing in dubbing. In March 2024, the union ratified the 2023 Television Animation Agreement, which includes “strong protections around the use of artificial intelligence” for voice acting and other performances.