Imagine you turn on your gaming device and eagerly prepare to play the latest hot video game... before you realise that the main character has your voice and your face.

You would be within your rights to be worried. Where did they get your voice from? Why do they have the right to use it? Can you do anything about it? Can they make you say anything they want?

Many think that this is the future. AI is being trained to cloneTo create an exact genetic copy of an organism or cell. people's voices and faces so that actors can be the lead in a huge film, TV series or game without even leaving their beds.

Not everybody is happy. Many believe that AI presents an existentialRelating to the state of human existence. Existential dread can refer to grappling with your own experiences of responsibility and death. threat to actors. Using voice actors means paying for months of labour, but with AI, studios can pay a small one-off sum to buy an actor's voice and image and make them say or do anything they want.

The SAG-AFTRAThe Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is an American union for media professionals. and Writers Guild of America strikes have been one of the most widely-publicised disputesDisagreements. for protection against AI yet. And now, video games have joined the arena. Video game actors, who are also represented by SAG-AFTRA, have long been trying to force renegotiations over a contract with the major gaming studios.

More than 98% of SAG-AFTRA union members voted in favour of strike action to push gaming studios to reach an adequate agreement with them. While this does not mean that a strike is certain, it gives the union the ability to call one if negotiations fall through, which seems likely.

One of the major sticking points in negotiations is protection against generative AI replacing working actors. Actors are also demanding an 11% wage increase and on-set medics for risky stunts.

Meanwhile, writers of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike since July, are soon to return to work after striking a tentativeUnconfirmed or hesitant. agreement with studios and streaming services. Striking SAG-AFTRA television and film actors will resume negotiations with Hollywood studios on a new labour contract early this week.

Many believe that the complete destruction of acting as a professionJob. would be a travestyA fake and offensive representation of something. Travesty descends from the French verb travestir, meaning to disguise.. Some say it also puts the creative process at risk. Acting is about so much more than just reading words from a script.

Many condemn the studios for sacrificing artistry for lower costs. But others say the creative industries are fair game - if we can make them more efficient using technology, we should.

Yes: Video games, films and TV series are supposed to be about collaboration between a creative team to create something brilliant. You cannot achieve that level of creativity whilst using AI, and the quality of the product will undoubtedly suffer.

No: We live in a world where the demand for TV and video games is rising exponentially. In order to keep up with this demand, studios have to make the development of games and TV more efficient.

Or... The larger problem is not losing our creative skills, but allowing the development of AI to steal people's identities and livelihoods. No actor should have to face having their voice stolen and used to say things they did not consent to.