Lifestyle
Video game performers are on strike — and AI is the sticking point : Consider This from NPR
![Video game performers are on strike — and AI is the sticking point : Consider This from NPR Video game performers are on strike — and AI is the sticking point : Consider This from NPR](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/08/02/aerith-gainsborough_wide-f795342b4b9fdcdb62ebcb41d6c4004fd0f72f5a.jpg?s=1400&c=100&f=jpeg)
The character Aerith Gainsborough in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
James Mastromarino/Square Enix
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James Mastromarino/Square Enix
The character Aerith Gainsborough in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
James Mastromarino/Square Enix
If you’re not entrenched in the world of video games, you might not realize how much real actors have to do with modern gaming.
They provide everything from a few lines of dialogue for side characters in games, to recording hundreds or even thousands of very emotional lines, says Michigan State professor Amanda Cote, who studies the industry and culture of gaming.
“So really storyline-driven games, something like Mass Effect or a Far Cry, you’re recording hundreds of lines of dialogue to cover the many different storyline branches that a player could potentially encounter. And you’re trying to make sure that all of those make sense with the changing storyline,” she says.
!['Games made by soulless machines': Tech sparks debate over AI stories in video games](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/03/15/demo_sq-3ef337db53b5bae45b58448412080e6746c7bedd.jpg?s=100&c=85&f=jpeg)
“This isn’t like a movie where there’s one version of the script and you might do several takes of it, but the overall story is the same. This is recording potentially different endings, different storyline arcs, making sure that those all stay coherent with how your character might develop along those different lines.”
There are also performance capture artists – they wear bodysuits with sensors and their movements are captured digitally on camera, which later gets computerized.
Some of the biggest game studios rely on voice and performance capture artists, and all this adds up to big bucks. The video game industry made close to $185 billion last year.
But not everyone is happy.
You’re reading the Consider This newsletter, which unpacks one major news story each day. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to more from the Consider This podcast.
Generative AI is a sticking point
Video game performers are currently on strike.
Their union, SAG-AFTRA, had been in contract negotiations with major video game companies for more than a year and a half. Cote says performers are seeking things like clearer safety and protection measures — such as receiving a five minute break per hour of on-camera work, or having an on-set medic present when they’re performing stunts — and that it appears the union and video game producers have found good terms on most of those issues.
But those talks have stalled over artificial intelligence.
Veronica Taylor is one of the many video game actors who are worried that the companies they work for could replace them with artificial intelligence or use their voices and motions in ways they did not consent to. She says it’s already happening.
![A growing number of gamers are LGBTQ+, so why is representation still lacking?](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/02/28/life_is_strange_maxandchloe_car_sq-65c0bdb3516e787b2e3d5f2984835bb88b4a0f6a.jpg?s=100&c=85&f=jpeg)
“I have found my voice in voice banks where people can take my voice and make it say things I’ve never said,” she told NPR.
The companies say they offered AI protections, but union members say they don’t extend to everyone.
Stunt performers and those whose motions are captured digitally are concerned that video game companies could create digital replicas of their physical work without their consent.
“What they are saying is that some of these performances, specifically for movement, is just data,” says Andi Norris, a member of SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee who has worked on games like Predator: Hunting Grounds. “I can crawl all over the floor and the walls as, you know, such-and-such creature, and they will argue that that is not performance, and so that is not subject to their AI protections.”
She argues her work is not just a data point, it’s done by her as a real person.
Performers who spoke to NPR say it’s important to recognize that they aren’t arguing that AI can never or should never be used in games — they just want to make sure that uses of AI are clear, understandable and compensated.
Members go on strike
Zeke Alton, who is also on the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee, says performers are the canary in the coalmine of the new technology.
“We are setting a precedent for how the workforce in both the United States and around the world is going to be treated,” he says. “Are they going to use this new emergent technology as tools for creatives, and for workers, to create efficiency? Or is this tool going to be used by executives to remove the worker?”
![](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/08/02/gettyimages-2164193029_custom-90f4eb8cf9cd40f4cbb9e5d800676c41d17de10f.jpg?s=1100&c=50&f=jpeg)
SAG-AFTRA union video game performers strike outside Warner Bros. Games on Thursday.
Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images
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Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images
Cote says generative AI is potentially destabilizing to the creative industries in general, but specifically in gaming.
“When we look at something like AI in live action settings, we run into the issue of the ‘uncanny valley’ where the face of an AI character looks just a little bit odd to us,” he says. “But when we’re thinking about industries like voice acting or motion capture, the work that performers do in that context is then attached to digital avatars in animation. So we don’t get that ‘uncanny valley’ effect because the final result is a digital avatar. And so this may make the use of generative A.I. easier in games than other industries.”
![Hit your 2024 exercise goals with these VR fitness apps and games](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/01/16/supernatural_sq-5b9199b7eec0ec1c3346ef9e6d875b3706343355.jpg?s=100&c=85&f=jpeg)
Video game voice and motion actors, whose human performances become computer data, say they are especially vulnerable to being replaced by generative AI. And their collective bargaining now will inform the ways we think about this technology going forward.
A spokesperson for the video game companies involved in the negotiations released a statement saying the companies and the union have already found common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals — and that they are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when they are close to a deal. The video game companies say they’re prepared to resume negotiations.
Editor’s note: Many NPR employees are members of SAG-AFTRA, but are under a different contract and are not on strike.
This episode was produced by Brianna Scott. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon and Clare Lombardo. NPR’s Art Correspondent Mandalit Del Barco contributed reporting. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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Lifestyle
Alec Baldwin 'Rust' Judge Blasts Prosecution After Case Dismissal
![Alec Baldwin 'Rust' Judge Blasts Prosecution After Case Dismissal Alec Baldwin 'Rust' Judge Blasts Prosecution After Case Dismissal](https://imagez.tmz.com/image/89/16by9/2024/08/02/89eee187316f4fbf86e3a87f00b4405c_xl.jpg)
The judge in Alec Baldwin‘s manslaughter case in New Mexico is ripping prosecutors for misconduct, which she says prevented the actor from preparing his defense.
In new docs, obtained by TMZ, the judge who dismissed the case against Alec says the prosecution “intentionally and deliberately” withheld evidence from Baldwin’s legal team … namely, live ammunition found on the “Rust” movie set matching the live bullet that killed Halyna Hutchins.
Court TV
7/12/24
Remember … during the trial, police investigator Marissa Poppell testified her superiors instructed her to create a report documenting that police had received ammunition and to file it under a different case number than the “Rust” case … so it wouldn’t be visible to the defense.
District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dressed down the prosecution in her final written order … saying their “willful and deliberate misconduct” gave her no choice but to dismiss the case.
TMZ.com
The judge took another shot at prosecutors for “egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct and false testimony elicited during trial.”
Alec’s case was dismissed last month and he’s now taking steps to sue Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza and special prosecutor Kari Morrissey, who is taking the brunt of the judge’s wrath here.
In the meantime, Alec is back in New York filming his new reality TV show with his family.
Lifestyle
What to know about the gender controversy sweeping Olympic boxing
![What to know about the gender controversy sweeping Olympic boxing What to know about the gender controversy sweeping Olympic boxing](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x1688+0+0/resize/1400/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbc%2F6b%2F6f57491b4d3aa45735a4dacc5529%2Fboxing-diptych.jpg)
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, left, and Algeria’s Imane Khelif have competed in boxing competitions as women for years. But their presence in Paris is being scrutinized by some after they failed a vague gender eligibility test last year.
John Locher/AP and Aijaz Rahi/AP
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John Locher/AP and Aijaz Rahi/AP
NPR is in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics. For more of our coverage from the Games, head to our latest updates.
Women’s boxing is at the center of the latest Olympics controversy as critics take issue with the participation of two athletes — Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan — who have failed gender eligibility tests in the past.
Both Khelif and Lin identify and have long competed as women, but were disqualified from the 2023 women’s world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for what it called failure to meet “eligibility rules.”
Olympic organizers are defending their right to compete in Paris and questioning the validity of those unspecified tests and the fairness of their previous disqualification, which they said happened without due process.
“The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure — especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement Thursday.
![The cauldron is lit by torch bearers Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner in Paris, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4548x4548+1137+0/resize/100/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fef%2F6f%2Ff689e1f54d5e8000c20e6c71f374%2Fap24208788046755.jpg)
The conservative outcry started after Khelif won her match against Angela Carini of Italy on Thursday in somewhat dramatic fashion.
Carini quit just 46 seconds into the bout after Khelif’s punches dislodged her chinstrap and bloodied her shorts. After deciding to withdraw, she fell to her knees sobbing in the ring and refused to shake hands with Khelif.
“I have never been hit so hard in my life,” Carini tearfully told reporters afterward.
She said she had stopped fighting because of nose pain, but also said it wasn’t her place to pass judgment on whether Khelif should compete.
![Tested: Card-Carrying Females](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/07/18/tested-episode-3---square_sq-10a4d323674d5800dd3c6376905d4b765e278e71.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
“If an athlete is this way, and in that sense it’s not right or it is right, it’s not up to me to decide,” Carini added.
Khelif didn’t speak to the media other than a quick comment to BBC Sport: “I’m here for the gold — I fight everybody.”
She is set to return to the ring Saturday for a quarterfinal matchup against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori.
Hamori has accepted the fight, saying she is “not scared” of Khelif. But the Hungarian Boxing Association is striking a different tone: The Associated Press reported on Friday that the organization is sending “letters of protest” about the matchup to the IOC and Hungary’s own Olympic committee.
On Friday, Lin emerged victorious in her preliminary-round fight against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova, winning 5-0 by unanimous decision but without much fanfare in the crowd.
She is headed to the quarterfinals on Sunday, one victory away from her first Olympic medal.
Who is Lin?
Lin, 28, a two-time world champion, has been competing for over a decade.
According to her Olympic bio, Lin joined an athletics team as a child “to achieve good results in athletics and win awards to help out financially.” She switched to boxing in middle school.
She made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games, though left without a medal.
Still, the southpaw has won many other titles — including bronze in featherweight at the 2019 Women’s World Boxing Championships, gold at bantamweight in 2018 and gold in featherweight in 2022.
She also won a bronze medal at the 2023 world championships, but lost it after she was disqualified. It went to the opponent she had defeated in the quarterfinals, Bulgaria’s Svetlana Kamenova Staneva.
Who is Khelif?
Khelif, at 25 years old and 5’10”, has been competing since 2018. She entered Paris with a 9-5 professional record, according to the New York Times.
She made her first Olympic appearance at the Tokyo Games in 2021, where she lost in the quarterfinal round to Ireland’s Kellie Harrington (and didn’t face any false allegations about her gender at the time, as many of her defenders are now noting).
Khelif won the African and Mediterranean Championships in 2022 and reached the final of the IBA Women’s World Championships that same year. She took home silver, after a defeat by another Irish boxer, Katie Broadhurst.
Khelif also reached the finals of the 2023 world championships in New Delhi but was disqualified by organizers the day before they began in March.
Why were the athletes disqualified last year?
The IBA said in a statement at the time that Khelif and Lin had “failed to meet eligibility rules, following a test conducted by an independent laboratory.”
IBA President Umar Krevlev told Russian state media that it was “proven they have XY chromosomes” — which is seen in men, as opposed to the XX genotype of women.
It is medically possible for women to have male chromosomes, in rare cases. Separately, there are a number of health conditions — most notably, polycystic ovary syndrome — that can cause women to produce excess male hormones.
In a new statement released this week, the IBA clarified that Khelif and Lin had not undergone a testosterone exam, but were “subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential.”
“This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors,” they wrote.
Why are they eligible for the Olympics?
![Algeria's Imane Khelif, right, walks beside Italy's Angela Carini in the boxing ring after winning their match.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4630x3087+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0f%2F5c%2F4a37b8bc46ad9a925eb6361b35d2%2Fap24215381420419.jpg)
Algeria’s Imane Khelif, right, walks beside Italy’s Angela Carini after winning their women’s 66kg preliminary boxing match on Thursday.
John Locher/AP
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John Locher/AP
The IBA is no longer the governing body of Olympic boxing.
The IOC — which had already overseen boxing competitions for the Tokyo Olympics — officially voted to derecognize it in June 2023, after a years-long dispute over the integrity of its bouts and judging and transparency of management.
Olympic officials took issue with how presidents from Uzbekistan and Russia ran the IBA, as well as the fact that its sole sponsor was a Russian state energy firm, according to the Associated Press.
The IOC has repeatedly defended the athletes’ right to compete in Paris, casting doubt on the process that disqualified them last year and pointing to their female legal identities.
![Transgender track and field athletes can't compete in women's international events](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/03/24/2023-03-23t192450z_2062898750_rc2szz9ezqj9_rtrmadp_3_athletics-world-edit_sq-88fe1f05d2f1d87f3c2c6bb87ba86135fc509305.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
“They are women in their passports and it’s stated that this is the case, that they are female,” spokesperson Mark Adams told reporters earlier this week. Notably, there is no right to change one’s legal gender under Algerian law.
In its Thursday statement, the IOC confirmed that all athletes participating in the boxing tournament “comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations.” It said it used the Tokyo boxing rules as the baseline for this year’s regulations.
It called Khelif and Lin, whom it did not identify by name, “the victims of a sudden arbitrary decision by the IBA.”
The IOC said it is “saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving,” and stressed the need for National Boxing Federations to “reach a consensus around a new International federation” for boxing to be included in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
![NAIA all but bans transgender athletes from women's sports](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/04/08/ap24087110508000_sq-8eea2b421c8c262078615b38ac27421247010597.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
On Friday, spokesperson Adams reminded reporters that the IOC stopped blanket sex testing in 1999, and that “even if there were a sex test that everyone agreed with, I don’t think anyone wants to see a return to some of the scenes.” He acknowledged that the situation has become a minefield.
“And unfortunately, as with all minefields, we want a simple explanation,” he added. “Everyone wants a black-and-white explanation of how we can determine this. That explanation does not exist, neither in the scientific community, nor anywhere else.”
For more about sex testing in elite women’s sports, check out the new podcast Tested, from NPR and the CBC.
What are critics and supporters saying?
![Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, left, reacts after defeating Uzbekistan's Sitora Turdibekova in their women's 57 kg preliminary boxing match on Friday.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4272x2848+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F3d%2F969bffbf47b0aa52d82d76b2ca08%2Fap24215499325176.jpg)
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, left, reacts after defeating Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova in their women’s 57 kg preliminary boxing match on Friday.
John Locher/AP
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John Locher/AP
After Khelif’s win, the backlash was swift, especially in conservative circles.
Author J.K. Rowling — who has been criticized for her transphobic views in recent years — falsely labeled her a man, in a tweet that has garnered over 400,000 likes. Former President Donald Trump shared a video of the match on Truth Social, writing in all caps, “I WILL KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS!”
Riley Gaines, a widely-followed former collegiate swimmer who describes herself as a “leader defending women’s single-sex spaces,” tweeted that “men don’t belong in women’s sports.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk amplified her tweet, adding, “Absolutely.”
Vlogger-turned-WWE wrestler Logan Paul also slammed Khelif as a man, tweeting that the match was “the purest form of evil unfolding right before your eyes.” He later deleted his post and wrote, “I might be guilty of spreading misinformation along with the entirety of this app.”
![Wave Of Bills To Block Trans Athletes Has No Basis In Science, Researcher Says](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2021/03/18/gettyimages-589991344_sq-aa57fec368043e69c86c20eec677041f97d6fa99.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
Foreign officials have also weighed in.
Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told the Italian news agency ANSA that the fight between Carini and Khelif was unfair.
“I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women’s competitions,” she said, according to Reuters. “And not because you want to discriminate against someone, but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms.”
Italy’s family and sports ministers have also voiced concerns about the lack of clarity around gender eligibility criteria, suggesting that uniform international criteria would assuage “suspicion” and protect athletes’ safety.
Algeria’s Olympic committee is defending Khelif, issuing a statement on Wednesday condemning what it called her “unethical targeting” with “baseless propaganda.”
![Olympic runner Caster Semenya's memoir tackles gender stereotypes in sports](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/01/04/2-botd-tues---edited-image_sq-3b96dac6905dac1bb012b8c24d02385d417be544.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
“Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics,” it added, per Reuters.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese officials have thrown their support behind Lin.
Pan Men-an, secretary-general for Taiwan’s presidential office, said on social media that it is wrong for the athlete to be “subjected to humiliation, insults and verbal bullying just because of your appearance and a controversial verdict in the past.”
Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female president, wrote on X that Lin is “an athlete who is fearless in the face of challenges, whether they come from inside or outside the ring.”
Lifestyle
Clouds, chill, high heat and … what the hail? All in one 66-mile drive to and from L.A.
![Clouds, chill, high heat and … what the hail? All in one 66-mile drive to and from L.A. Clouds, chill, high heat and … what the hail? All in one 66-mile drive to and from L.A.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2b58903/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1575+0+212/resize/1200x630!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F25%2F13%2F3878d442452583ee8afe5854baf6%2Fhot-weather-cold-weather-drive.png)
We’re used to time-bending drives in Southern California, watching our ETAs get longer instead of shorter as traffic jams grow. So I was resigned but not surprised when my 66-mile drive from Ventura to Elysian Park stretched from 86 minutes to 100 minutes Thursday afternoon.
What I didn’t expect was hail. On the first day of August. Around 2:25 p.m. After driving through nearly 100 degrees in the San Fernando Valley.
Now you know why I have seven sweatshirts and jackets in my car. At all times.
More weirdly, my trip started with temperatures in the low 70s in Ventura, where the spring and a good chunk of the summer have been cool and overcast. We’ve had some lovely blue-sky days in late July with temperatures in the low 80s, but Thursday, the clouds were back for a good part of the day.
When I took my walk that morning the temperature was in the low 60s, chilly enough to warrant a sweatshirt. But by 12:45 p.m., when I headed into L.A., it was around 70 degrees. I expected it to be a good 10 degrees hotter, so I wore shorts and a sleeveless shirt for my walk through Elysian Park while reporting on a story.
As expected, by the time I climbed the Conejo Pass on the 101 Freeway heading east, the temperature climbed quickly.
I couldn’t tell this inside my car of course, thanks to air conditioning, but my temperature sensor began climbing to the high 80s in Thousand Oaks and by the time I drove through Tarzana, the gauge read 99 degrees, just 45 miles from where I’d started.
I expected the temperature to stay in the 90s as I headed east, but instead the skies clouded up and the temperature began dropping, down to the low 80s.
And about 2:25 p.m. as I passed Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills on the 134 Freeway, tiny white balls began pelting my wildshield. They were smaller than the smallest peas, but hard enough to make staccato tap-tap-taps as they struck my windshield and melted into tiny droplets of water.
By the time I reached the West Loop Trailhead in Elysian Park 20 minutes later, the skies were broken clouds, so I grabbed my sweatshirt, ensuring, of course, that the sun would break out a short time later.
The drive home around 5:30 p.m. was predictably slow but relatively uneventful weather-wise.
Meanwhile a prolonged heat wave is sweeping through inland areas of the state. My one weird weather day isn’t indicative of a wider trend — the National Weather Service noted a “seemingly never-ending heat wave” in July — but is exemplary of the microclimates we experience in Southern California. It may be triple digits in one spot, hailing momentarily in another.
One nice thing about driving west, however, is a front row seat to spectacular sunsets. There were still clouds, but so wispy they had an iridescent sheen like spun sugar.
And the sunset — bits of clouds turned deep salmon pink and plum — did not disappoint.
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