Guilty Pleasures
By Associated Press
Video game performers protest unregulated AI use at Warner Bros. Studios
LOS ANGELES | More than 100 video game performers picketed in front of the Warner Bros. Studios building on Thursday to protest against what they call an unwillingness from top gaming companies to protect voice actors and motion capture workers equally against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence.
The protest marks the first large labor action since game voice actors and performance workers voted to strike last week. The work stoppage came after more than 18 months of negotiations with gaming giants, including divisions of Activision, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co., over a new interactive media agreement stalled over protections around the use of AI.
Union leaders have billed AI as an existential crisis for performers. Game voice actors and motion capture artists’ likenesses, they say, could be replicated by AI and used without consent and fair compensation. The unregulated use of AI, the union says, poses “an equal or even greater threat” to performers in the video game industry than it does in film and television because the capacity to cheaply and easily create convincing digital replicas of performers’ voices is widely available.
Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the video game producers, said the companies have offered AI protections as well as “a significant increase in wages for SAG-AFTRA represented performers in video games.”
“We have worked hard to deliver proposals with reasonable terms that protect the rights of performers while ensuring we can continue to use the most advanced technology to create a great gaming experience for fans,” Cooling said. “We have proposed terms that provide consent and fair compensation for anyone employed under the (contract) if an AI reproduction or digital replica of their performance is used in games.”
SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee argued that the studios’ definition of who constitutes a “performer” is key to understanding the issue of who would be protected.
“The industry has told us point blank that they do not necessarily consider everyone who is rendering movement performance to be a performer that is covered by the collective bargaining agreement,” SAG-AFTRA Chief Contracts Officer Ray Rodriguez said at a news conference last week, adding that some physical performances are being treated as “data.”
The union had been negotiating with an industry bargaining group consisting of signatory video game companies. Those companies are Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Llama Productions LLC, Take 2 Productions Inc., VoiceWorks Productions Inc. and WB Games Inc.
The global video game industry generated nearly $184 billion in revenue in 2023, according to game market forecaster Newzoo, with revenues projected to reach $207 billion in 2026.
“We are at the table because we want to include SAG-AFTRA-represented performers in our productions, and we will continue working to resolve the last remaining issue in these negotiations,” Cooling said. “Our goal is to reach an agreement with the union that will end this strike.”
‘Bill & Ted’ stars Reeves, Winter eye Broadway reunion in 2025 for ‘Waiting
for Godot’
NEW YORK | Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, who played a pair of extraordinary slackers in three “Bill & Ted” films, are reuniting on Broadway for a revival of the brainy, existential classic “Waiting for Godot.”
The play is planned for the fall of 2025 under the direction of Jamie Lloyd, a four-time Tony nominee set to direct a revival later this year of “Sunset Boulevard.”
Samuel Beckett’s pioneering play centers on two tramps, Estragon and Vladimir, who are awaiting the arrival of the mysterious title character, if he ever shows up. It is filled with vaudevillian high jinks that mask increasingly agitated desperation.
Reeves will play Estragon and Winter will play Vladimir.
The play was first performed on Broadway in 1956 and has been revived three times since, most recently in 2013 with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart.
After “Bill & Ted,” Reeves would go on to star in the “Matrix” and “John Wick” franchises. He will be making his Broadway debut with “Godot.” Winter has appeared on Broadway twice before — in the 1970s in musical revivals of “The King and I” and “Peter Pan.”
In other theater news, Adam Driver will star in a new production of Kenneth Lonergan’s “Hold on to Me Darling” this fall off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
Cardi B files for divorce from Offset, posts she’s pregnant with their third child on Instagram
NEW YORK | Cardi B has filed for divorce from her husband, Migos’ rapper Offset.
A representative for Cardi B confirmed the news to The Associated Press, writing, “This is not based on any one particular incident, it has been a long time coming and is amicable.”
On Instagram, Cardi B did not directly comment on the news of her divorce, but posted a photo of her on a rooftop, holding her stomach to reveal a baby bump.
“With every ending comes a new beginning! I am so grateful to have shared this season with you, you have brought me more love, more life and most of all renewed my power,” she wrote in the caption. “It’s so much easier taking life’s twists, turns and test laying down, but you, your brother and your sister have shown me why it’s worth it to push through!”
Cardi B and Offset, whose birth names are Belcalis Almanzar and Kiari Cephus respectively, have two children together: 5-year-old daughter Kulture and 2-year-old son Wave.
The hip-hop power couple were secretly wed on Sept. 20, 2017, in Atlanta. They only announced their engagement a month later.
In 2020, Cardi B previously filed for divorce from Offset, claiming her marriage was “irretrievably broken.”
Underwood will return to ‘American Idol’ as its newest judge
LOS ANGELES | Carrie Underwood will be the next singer to sit behind the judges’ table on “American Idol,” filling Katy Perry’s spot after her departure from the show in May.
Underwood, who rose to fame after she won the singing competition show in 2005, will return 20 years later as a judge for the upcoming season, set to premiere in spring 2025. She’s the first “American Idol” alum to become a judge.
In an emotional video announcing Underwood’s new hosting gig, she said “I’m proud of everything that I was able to accomplish on the show, and I’m so proud of everything that I’ve accomplished since.”
The country singer, who is the most decorated artist in CMT Music Awards’ history with 25 wins, made waves with her rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” at her audition, and she quickly became a fan-favorite.
Underwood has also won eight Grammy Awards and consistently tops the charts with her albums and singles. She will be joining Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, who each have seven seasons of judging experience under their belts, for the franchise’s 23rd season.
“This upcoming season marks 20 years since Carrie won America’s hearts on ‘Idol’ and launched her successful multi-Grammy Award-winning career. As a former Idol and dynamic musical force, she brings a remarkably unique perspective to one of the most popular shows on television,” said Craig Erwich, president of Disney Television Group, in a release from ABC. “This is a full-circle moment both for the show and audiences at home who have been tuning in for over two decades. Welcome home, Carrie.”
Longtime host Ryan Seacrest, who has been with the show since it premiered, will also return. Seacrest is also taking over Pat Sajak’s role as the host of “Wheel of Fortune” this fall.
Auditions for the new season will kick off Aug. 12 with the “Idol Across America” nationwide search for talent and will end in September. The season is set to premiere in the spring and will be available to watch on ABC and Hulu.
“American Idol” premiered in 2002 on Fox and was a hit for the network, but it was canceled in 2016. After two years off the air, the show was revived by ABC and has aired there for seven seasons. Perry was the first of the revival judges to leave the judges’ post.
A representative for Underwood did not immediately return requests for comment.
—From AP reports
