Video game actors are going on strike. Here's why

abcnews.go.com:

More than 2,500 video game voice actors and motion capture performers are going on strike after negotiations with game industry giants that began nearly two years ago failed to result in an agreement

LOS ANGELES — Hollywood's video game performers voted to go on strike Thursday after negotiations with game industry giants that began nearly two years ago came to a halt over artificial intelligence protections.

Leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have billed the issues behind the labor dispute — and AI in particular — as an existential crisis for performers. Game voice actors and motion capture artists' likenesses, they say, could be replicated by AI and used without their consent and without fair compensation.

The union says the unregulated use of AI 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.

“We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse AI to the detriment of our members. Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement Wednesday. "

Here are five things to know about the strike, which starts at 12:01 a.m. Friday:

The agreement covers more than 2,500 “off-camera voiceover performers, on-camera (motion capture, stunt) performers, stunt coordinators, singers, dancers, puppeteers, and background performers,” according to SAG-AFTRA.

The union had been negotiating with an industry bargaining