LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than 100 video game performers picketed in front of the Warner Bros. Studios building on Thursday to protest 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.”

SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee argued that the studios’ definition of who constitutes a “performer” is key to understanding the issue of who would be protected.

“The industry has told us point blank that they do not necessarily consider everyone who is rendering movement performance to be a performer that is covered by the collective bargaining agreement,” SAG-AFTRA Chief Contracts Officer Ray Rodriguez said at a news conference last week, adding that some physical performances are being treated as “data.”

The union had been negotiating with an industry bargaining group consisting of signatory video game companies. Those companies are Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Llama Productions LLC, Take 2 Productions Inc., VoiceWorks Productions Inc. and WB Games Inc.

The global video game industry generated nearly $184 billion in revenue in 2023, according to game market forecaster Newzoo, with revenues projected to reach $207 billion in 2026.

“We are at the table because we want to include SAG-AFTRA-represented performers in our productions, and we will continue working to resolve the last remaining issue in these negotiations,” Cooling said. “Our goal is to reach an agreement with the union that will end this strike.”

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BUSBY, Alta. – One person died and dozens were injured after a large tent collapsed at a Buddhist monastery northwest of Edmonton during powerful winds.

RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said there were as many as 100 people in and around the tent at the Westlock Meditation Centre near Busby, Alta., on Wednesday afternoon.

“Ultimately, we hope to determine exactly what circumstances may have led to this,” he said Thursday.

“We do know, though, that extreme winds were a major contributing factor.”

Savinkoff said of those hurt, several were seriously injured and there were about 50 minor injuries ranging from bumps and bruises to broken bones.

Local RCMP were assisted by officers from nearby detachments, as well as ambulance and fire crews. Occupational Health and Safety investigators were also at the scene.

“We do have investigators that are on site. They’re going to be interviewing everybody there. So as you can imagine, that’s quite the large investigation,” Savinkoff said.

The mediation centre, run by the Edmonton Buddhist Research Institute, says on its website it can accommodate more than 750 guests on its grounds. The site includes gardens, residences for monks and nuns, accommodations for retreat guests, a formal meditation hall and a mausoleum.

The institute says it created the meditation centre near Busby after retreats and cultural events at its main Truc Lam Monastery in Edmonton became so popular that it needed more space.

Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said on social media the government “is there to support our first responders during this difficult situation.”

Electricity provider Fortis Alberta said it was working to restore power to some areas after major storms in Westlock County.

“There are several poles and wires down and trees on our power lines. Both the transmission and distribution services were damaged,” it said on a social media post.

On Aug. 1, 2009, a spectator was killed and 75 others were injured after fierce winds made a concert stage collapse at the annual Big Valley Jamboree country music festival in Camrose, Alta.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had the incorrect spelling for the Westlock Meditation Centre.

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WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Cleveland Browns running back D’Onta Foreman suffered a head injury during practice and was air lifted by helicopter to a hospital in Virginia on Thursday.

The team said Foreman sustained a “direct blow to the head that resulted in neck pain” during a drill at The Greenbrier Resort. Foreman had movement in all of his extremities, according to a statement from the Browns.

The 28-year-old Foreman was treated on the field by medical staff before being immobilized on a stretcher. He was driven away from the facility in an ambulance and flown to a medical center in Roanoke, Virginia, for further evaluation and treatment.

Foreman signed with the Browns as a free agent in March. He gives Cleveland some depth at the position as Nick Chubb works his way back from a season-ending knee injury and two surgeries.

Foreman is entering his eighth NFL season. He was originally drafted by Houston in the third round in 2017 after playing at Texas.

Foreman played two seasons with the Texans, two in Tennessee and one with Carolina and Chicago. He’s rushed for 2,326 career years and 14 touchdowns.

Last season, Foreman rushed for 425 yards and four TDs in nine games with the Bears.

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