Dalal, a 32-year-old software engineer, was part of a growing movement of individuals who are using their own bodies as a form of digital input. This is the future of gaming, some say. A future where players don’t just control characters with a joystick or a keyboard, but rather, their own bodies.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is a labor union representing actors, announcers, and other media professionals. It is the largest union in the entertainment industry. SAG-AFTRA has been in negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the major studios and production companies, for months.

Hollywood’s video game performers announced a work stoppage — their second in a decade — after more than 18 months of negotiations over a new interactive media agreement with game industry giants broke down over artificial intelligence protections. Members of the union have said they are not anti-AI. The performers are worried, however, the technology could provide studios with a means to displace them. Dalal said he took it personally when he heard that the video game companies negotiating with SAG-AFTRA over a new contract wanted to consider some movement work “data” and not performance. If gamers were to tally up the cut scenes they watch in a game and compare them with the hours they spend controlling characters and interacting with non-player characters, they would see that they interact with “movers’” and stunt performers’ work “way more than you interact with my work,” Dalal said.

“They are the ones selling the world these games live in, when you’re doing combos and pulling off crazy, super cool moves using Force powers, or you’re playing Master Chief, or you’re Spider-Man swinging through the city,” he said. Some actors argue that AI could strip less-experienced actors of the chance to land smaller background roles, such as non-player characters, where they typically cut their teeth before landing larger jobs. The unchecked use of AI, performers say, could also lead to ethical issues if their voices or likenesses are used to create content that they do not morally agree with. That type of ethical dilemma has recently surfaced with game “mods,” in which 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 cloned their voices for pornographic content.

These movements are then captured and used to create realistic character animations. The process of motion capture involves several steps. First, actors are fitted with motion capture suits, which are equipped with sensors that record their movements. The sensors are typically placed on the body’s joints, allowing for a high degree of accuracy in capturing the actor’s movements. These sensors are often referred to as markers.

This is a powerful tool for creating new characters, but it also has limitations. The limitations are that generative AI can be expensive to implement and maintain. The cost of training and running generative AI models can be significant, especially for large-scale projects. The cost of maintaining these models can also be high, as they require constant updates and fine-tuning to ensure accuracy and relevance.

The unions representing the game developers, including those from the UK, Canada, and the US, have been in a lengthy negotiation process with the game companies. The unions have been working to secure higher wages for their members, particularly in light of the increasing costs of living. The unions have been pushing for a fair share of the profits generated by the video games.

“Voice actors may see fewer opportunities in the future, especially as game developers use AI to cut development costs and time,” the report said, noting that “big AAA prestige games like ‘The Last of Us’ and ‘God of War’ use motion capture and voice acting similarly to Hollywood.” Other games, such as “Cyberpunk 2077,” cast celebrities. Actor Ben Prendergast said that data points collected for motion capture don’t pick up the “essence” of someone’s performance as an actor. The same is true, he said, of AI-generated voices that can’t deliver the nuanced choices that go into big scenes — or smaller, strenuous efforts like screaming for 20 seconds to portray a character’s death by fire.

“The big issue is that someone, somewhere has this massive data, and I now have no control over it,” said Prendergast, who voices Fuse in the game “Apex Legends.” “Nefarious or otherwise, someone can pick up that data now and go, we need a character that’s nine feet tall, that sounds like Ben Prendergast and can fight this battle scene. And I have no idea that that’s going on until the game comes out.” Studios would be able to “get away with that,” he said, unless SAG-AFTRA can secure the AI protections they are fighting for. “It reminds me a lot of sampling in the ’80s and ’90s and 2000s where there were a lot of people getting around sampling classic songs,” he said. “This is an art. If you don’t protect rights over their likeness, or their voice or body and walk now, then you can’t really protect humans from other endeavors.”