LOS ANGELES — For hours, motion capture sensors tacked onto Noshir Dalal's body tracked his movements as he unleashed aerial strikes, overhead blows and single-handed attacks that later would show up in a video game. He eventually swung the sledgehammer gripped in his hand so many times, he tore a tendon in his forearm. By the end of the day, he couldn't pull the handle of his car door open.
The physical strain this type of motion work entails, and the hours put into it, are part of the reason why he believes all video-game performers should be protected equally from the use of unregulated artificial intelligence. Video game performers say they fear AI could reduce or eliminate job opportunities because the technology could be used to replicate one performance into a number of others without their consent. People are also reading.
.. That's a concern that led the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to go on strike in late July.
Noshir Dalal attends a panel July 26 for SAG-AFTRA "Game Actors on Game Actors" during Comic-Con International in San Diego. Christy Radecic, Invision "If motion-capture actors, video-game actors in general, only make whatever money they make that day ..
. that can be a really slippery slope," said Dalal, who portrayed Bode Akuna in "Star Wars Jedi: Survivor." "Instead of being like, 'Hey, we're going to bring you back' .
.. they're just not going to bring me back at all and not tell me at all that they're doing this," he said.
"That's why transparency and compensation are so important to us in AI protections." Hollywood's video game performers announced a work stoppage — their second in a decade — after more than 18 months of negotiations over a new interactive media agreement with game industry giants broke down over artificial-intelligence protections. Union members said they are not anti-AI.
The performers are worried, however, the technology could provide studios with a means to displace them. Dalal said he took it personally when he heard that the video game companies negotiating with SAG-AFTRA over a new contract wanted to consider some movement work "data" and not performance. If gamers were to tally up the cut scenes they watch in a game and compare them with the hours they spend controlling characters and interacting with nonplayer characters, they would see that they interact with "movers'" and stunt performers' work "way more than you interact with my work," Dalal said.
"They are the ones selling the world these games live in," he said. These have been some of the biggest voice actor recasts in gaming. Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we are looking at times video game voice actors were replaced in a sequel project or spin-off title.
WatchMojo - MojoPlays Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack Some actors argue that AI could strip less-experienced actors of the chance to land smaller background roles where they typically cut their teeth before landing larger jobs. The unchecked use of AI, performers say, could also lead to ethical issues if their voices or likenesses are used to create content they do not morally agree with. Last year, voice actors spoke out against mods — in which fans alter and create new game content — in the role-playing game "Skyrim" that used AI to generate actors' performances and cloned their voices for pornographic content.
In video game motion capture, actors wear special suits with markers on them and perform movements like walking, running or moving an object. Animators grab from those motion capture recordings and chain them together to respond to what someone playing the game is doing. "What AI is allowing game developers to do, or game studios to do, is generate a lot of those animations automatically from past recordings," said Brian Smith, an assistant professor at Columbia University's Department of Computer Science.
"No longer do studios need to gather new recordings for every single game and every type of animation that they would like to create. They can also draw on their archive of past animation." If a studio has motion capture banked from a previous game and wants to create a new character, he said, animators could use those stored recordings as training data.
From left, Sarah Elmaleh, Ashly Burch and Noshir Dalal pose for a portrait July 26 to promote SAG-AFTRA "Game Actors on Game Actors" during Comic-Con International in San Diego. Chris Pizzello, Associated Press A spokesperson for the video game producers, Audrey Cooling, said the studios offered "meaningful" AI protections, but SAG-AFTRA's negotiating committee said the studios' definition of who constitutes a "performer" is key to understanding the issue of who would be protected. "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." The game companies offered wage increases, she said, with an initial 7% increase in scale rates and an additional 7.64% increase effective in November.
That's an increase of 14.5% over the life of the contract. The studios also agreed to increases in per diems, payment for overnight travel and a boost in overtime rates and bonus payments, she added.
"Our goal is to reach an agreement with the union that will end this strike," Cooling said. A 2023 report on the global games market from industry tracker Newzoo predicted that video games would begin to include more AI-generated voices. Game developers, the Amsterdam-based firm said, will use AI to produce unique voices, bypassing the need to source voice actors.
"Voice actors may see fewer opportunities in the future, especially as game developers use AI to cut development costs and time," the report said, noting "big AAA prestige games like 'The Last of Us' and 'God of War' use motion capture and voice acting similarly to Hollywood." Actor Ben Prendergast said data points collected for motion capture don't pick up the "essence" of someone's performance as an actor. The same is true, he said, of AI-generated voices that can't deliver the nuanced choices actors put into scenes.
5 emerging trends that will change how you use your phone in 2024 What to watch for Smartphone creators are constantly coming up with new ways to make their products smarter, more powerful, and user-friendly, all of which can make the phone even more indispensable for consumers. While developing some new features is a byproduct of blossoming technology, many updates are driven by rapidly changing consumer demand and trends. To help you navigate the myriad new features set to make waves in the market this year, Visible partnered with Stacker to predict some of the biggest trends that will change how you use your phone in 2024 using news reports and consumer surveys.
Over the years, as people live more and more of their lives online and with the advent of artificial intelligence that allows companies to work with massive amounts of data, there has been a surge in security concerns. In one 2022 Deloitte consumer survey, 67% of respondents were worried about privacy and data security on their smartphones, up 13% from a 2022 survey. The latest phones now feature a plethora of security enhancements, including encrypted phone calls and messages, data processed locally rather than in far-flung servers, and even hardware allowing consumers to turn off their phone's many sensors (through which phone makers gather data).
Another growing consumer concern is the negative environmental impact of manufacturing and disposing of cell phones, causing manufacturers to look into everything from phasing out chargers to using more recycled materials. This issue may be one of the reasons people are keeping their cell phones for longer. Continue reading to learn about five trends impacting the world of smartphones.
Canva Augmented reality integration Mobile augmented reality integrates computer-generated information or content with data captured from the real world. In nonexpert terms, this technology uses images taken or viewed by the cell phone's camera to find what it deems is relevant digital content and overlays that information on the image or what the camera "sees." People may already be familiar with mobile augmented reality if they joined in on the Pokémon Go frenzy, but some phones have had basic AR features since 2008 or earlier .
While the technology is still developing, mobile AR may be especially useful for shopping. A quick scan of a product can bring up reviews or check out sales at competitor retailers. Some apps also let shoppers see how a piece of furniture would look in their home or let people virtually try on things like makeup, hair dye, or clothes.
Canva AI technology Artificial intelligence refers to the ability of computer-run robots or computers to complete tasks generally associated with humans or intelligent beings. The concept of AI itself isn't new. Stanford professor John McCarthy first coined the term in 1955.
Since then, AI has evolved leaps and bounds, moving from primitive AI that allowed machines to use programs to act in human ways to the more modern idea that machines can effectively "learn" to some extent. Nowadays, it's hard to escape AI technology in phones. AI tech has generally been designed to enhance the user experience, like adjusting camera settings or filters or helping sort the images in your albums.
More recently, though, generative AI, which uses AI to generate new content, has taken center stage. Imagine being able to pick out the best facial expressions from a series of images and overlaying them into one group photo or taming a cellphone's many app functions under one digital AI assistant that books flights or orders pizza without going into each app and tapping out commands. According to market research company Counterpoint, smartphones with generative AI represented 4% of the global market in 2023—it forecasts that share will increase to 40% by 2027.
Canva Expanded biometric security technology Security has become a pressing concern for many smartphone users, which has led manufacturers to focus more heavily on features to enhance consumer security, in particular biometric technology—using facial structure or fingerprint for authentication. Markets and Markets Research expects the biometrics market to nearly double in five years , from an estimated value of $42.9 billion in 2022 to $82.
9 billion by 2027. While face recognition has been around since the 1960s when Woodrow Wilson Bledsoe figured out a way to classify photos based on facial measurements, and fingerprinting is even older with Neolithic carvings depicting finger ridge patterns, digital versions of these practices eventually found their way into phones in the 2000s and 2010s as machines grew more powerful. In a world where identity theft, hacking, and online fraud are ever looming, having expanded, more robust biometric security capabilities on phones offers consumers a powerful layer of protection.
Biometric data can help consumers conveniently prove their identities to financial institutions and even help secure a patient's health information. Canva 5G network integration 5G gets its name from being the fifth-generation mobile network. In simple terms, 5G can drastically enhance the speed and quality of many of a phone's functions.
Theoretically, 5G internet speeds could run up to 200 times quicker than in 4G networks. However, most users experience more modest speeds and will continue to as infrastructure develops. Faster data transfer speeds mean downloading and uploading data can take less time than phone users are used to.
Increased data transfer rates could also translate into major improvements in the clarity of video calls, real-time streaming, and high-resolution AR. Canva Foldable phones So far, this list has been all about the future, but what if a bright future requires going back to the past? Interest in retro-style flip phones has been rising among younger cellphone owners. ZDNET notes a 15,369% increase in searches for flip phones in 2023.
Jose Briones, who runs a website ranking basic phones with little or none of the frills, told The New York Times the increased interest is a reaction to digital fatigue , the pressure of being online all the time. These simpler phones seem to offer a way out of the technological rabbit hole consumers have found themselves in. On the other side of the spectrum, however, are foldable phones, which offer quite the opposite benefit: twice the screen real estate but with the ability to take up less room in one's pockets.
In the last few years, major cellphone makers have introduced models with foldable displays. New models will improve with potentially larger screens and thinner chassis for improved video watching, game playing, and reading. Additional research by Eliza Siegel.
Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. Photo selection by Ania Antecka.
This story originally appeared on Visible and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio. Orange Dragon Studio // Shutterstock Stay up-to-date on what's happening.
