“Performers working in the games industry have spoken of their distress at being asked to work on explicit content without notice, including a scene featuring a sexual assault.
Sex scenes are common in modern games - and are often made by filming human actors who are then digitised into game characters.
But performers have told the BBC a culture of secrecy around projects - where scripts are often not shared until the last moment - means they frequently do not know in advance that scenes may involve intimate acts.”
This use of technology for sexual purposes is not new. There was a recent report citing the use of Generative AI for child sex videos. Those using the technology stated that it couldn’t be a crime, as it didn’t involve and ‘victims’. But as is the nature of AI, GAI has to work from images and videos of child sexual exploitation.
With this latest BBC News Report, it would suggest that we cannot be accepting and complacent about the use of AI, whether in film or video game production and actors need to be protected from exploitation.
What are your thoughts? What are the rules in the US, for video games and the protection of actors?
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Using Generative AI for child sex videos is completely disgusting!!! I'm not sure what the rules in the US are, Geoff Hall, but being asked to work on explicit content without notice is terrible! Performers should know in advance about explicit scenes. I think more companies should hire intimacy co-ordinators like the company behind Baldur's Gate 3 did.
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That's disturbing Geoff Hall. That's also why in the US we have a Union that takes care of that kind of thing. SAG-AFTRA would never allow that to happen. Performers are given a script well in advance, probably even told before the audition what the scenes entail. It would not be uncommon for anyone working on the game to be made to sign a NDA before getting a script. I also believe that SAG now requires an intimacy coordinator for any production that has nude scenes. As a matter of fact, the new SAG-AFTRA contract states that background performers are to be given 48 hour notice for nude or sex scenes so they have a chance to decline. That's for background so I am sure it's more than that for principal.
Using GAI for child sex videos is disgusting and you're right, they're victims. Even possessing that kind of material is a crime, so I'm not sure how they get away with it. But I know it's impossible to scrub it from the Internet. Seems to me in the UK, the law hasn't caught up with technology. Perhaps it's time to unionize.
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Suzanne Bronson I wasn’t aware that it was a requirement that SAG had negotiated. A study by Stephen Follows reported that only 1.9% of productions had an intimacy coordinator.
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I'm not sure Geoff if it's a requirement or highly recommended. Intimacy coordinator is a new position in the wake of the Me Too movement. I am not SAG and have not worked on a SAG show in years as the state I live in is a right to work state. But notice of a nude or sex scene at least48 hours prior is required.
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The industry as a whole needs to reign in video game producers. I am glad that SAG/AFTRA is striking them and I hope this is on the docket of demands. Game developers found themselves dealing with professional actors in the last few years for mo-cap, but have no idea about the standards that professional actors expect. We need intimacy coordinators on any set that asks actors to perform any intimate physical act. Full Stop.