Hollywood's video game performers are heading to the Warner Bros. Studios lot Thursday to picket 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."

• Read More