A tiered game contract sets consent terms for digital replicas

The shot

SAG-AFTRA bargains a separate family of interactive-media contracts for video-game and interactive work, distinct from its television and theatrical agreements. One track, the Tiered Independent Interactive Media Agreement, covers lower-budget interactive productions signed directly with the union. The union's own bulletin on "A.I. for Interactive," dated July 2024, sets out digital-replica and generative-AI terms for this agreement, published the same month a separate, dedicated strike over the union's main Interactive Media Agreement was moving toward its 26 July call.

What the documents show

The bulletin states the contract distinguishes "two types of artificial intelligence, 'digital replicas' and 'generative artificial intelligence,'" defining a digital replica as able to "independently generate new material not previously recorded by the performer," and generative AI as a system that "learns patterns from data and produces content based on those patterns (e.g., ChatGPT4, MidJourney, Dall-E2)." An employer must obtain consent before reusing a digital replica, consent for a new project must be sought again each time, and using a name or likeness with generative AI requires consent and pay "at no less than scale minimum." This is the union's own summary of bargained terms, not an audited account of how they operate on a given production.

The workflow

The bulletin states an employer must disclose an intent to create a digital replica "at the time of the audition or the job offer, whichever comes first," and must later give the performer a description of "the use of the character(s) and materials created." The union can demand further information, since the employer "is obligated to cooperate with the union in determining usage." Consent for reuse must be obtained again rather than assumed, and during a strike, previously granted consent is "deemed suspended for the duration."

What the tool does not change

The bulletin does not claim the union can technically detect unauthorized reuse; it states "the current state of technology does not include the ability of third parties to track digital replica use automatically," relying on the employer's own disclosure duty. It does not address storage security beyond noting state privacy laws would apply, and it does not describe the union's larger, separately struck Interactive Media Agreement.

• Is a given interactive production signed to this tiered agreement, an interim agreement, or the union's main Interactive Media Agreement, and which AI terms apply?
• Has a performer received the post-use description of a digital replica's final application that the bulletin requires?
• What does a state's own data-privacy law add where the union's bulletin says storage security is not addressed?

SAG-AFTRA's own bulletin gives a specific, dated account of one interactive-contract tier's digital-replica and generative-AI terms, consent before creation, repeated consent for reuse, and bargained pay for name-and-likeness generative use, while stating openly where its enforcement tools stop short of automatic detection. Its terms describe this tiered agreement specifically and should not be read as describing the union's separately bargained, and separately struck, main Interactive Media Agreement.