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What Sarah Elmaleh argued in the 2024 interview
Elmaleh’s interview, published March 28, 2024 and updated June 18, 2025, captured negotiations that were still underway when she gave her answers. She said talks on the Interactive Media Agreement had begun in 2022 and that AI protections had become the final sticking point. The agreement was SAG-AFTRA’s main contract for its members’ interactive work. GamesBeat’s interview with Sarah Elmaleh
Her framework was transparency, consent and compensation. Performers need enough information about a proposed use to make a meaningful choice, she argued; when a performance’s value is carried into new material while the performer is absent, compensation should follow. In the interview, she put it this way: “Transparency creates an opportunity for meaningful consent, not partial consent or misled consent. And then proper compensation.”
That position did not amount to a blanket rejection of AI. Elmaleh discussed possibilities such as a performer authorizing a voice modification, an estate participating in posthumous use, or a digital vocal double handling strenuous effort work. In her view, the distinction was whether a use extended an artist-supported performance or displaced the performer. These were examples of her position, not blanket union approval for any technology or use.
She also explained why notice matters in game acting. Performers may receive limited information about a project, and a live recording session can give them a chance to question a line or portrayal. AI-generated performance can remove that moment of collaboration. Elmaleh said contractual information and consent requirements could restore some of that conversation: “The contract is trying to recapture that conversation and make it a contractual obligation, as much as we can.”
How negotiations led to the strike and ratification
SAG-AFTRA said negotiations began in October 2022. Members approved a video-game strike authorization in 2023 with 98.32% voting yes. After bargaining failed to resolve the dispute over AI protections, the strike began on July 26, 2024. SAG-AFTRA’s 2023 strike-authorization announcement and its 2024 strike announcement
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Members ratified the 2025 Interactive Media Agreement on July 9, 2025, by 95.04% to 4.96%, ending the strike, which had been suspended pending ratification. The deal provides a 15.17% increase upon ratification, followed by compounded 3% increases in November 2025, November 2026 and November 2027. Those figures are terms announced for this agreement, not a general pay schedule for all game performers. SAG-AFTRA’s ratification announcement and the 2025 Interactive Media Agreement FAQ
What the 2025 agreement requires for digital replicas
The agreement does not treat every AI-assisted production practice as a digital replica. Its protections apply to defined uses, and the rules differ according to whether the replica is vocal or visual and how it appears in the game. SAG-AFTRA’s FAQ and member booklet describe the terms. Official agreement FAQ · 2025 IMA member booklet
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Consent must be specific and documented
For covered digital-replica use, consent must be in writing, conspicuous, separately signed or initialed, and tied to a reasonably specific description of the intended use. Depending on the project, that description can include the project code name, game genre, whether the performer is reprising a role, relevant content characteristics, the role’s size and whether the replica will generate real-time dialogue. A broad, untethered permission is not what the agreement describes.
Vocal and visual uses have different coverage
The official FAQ says vocal digital-replica terms cover material whether it appears in-game or in a cinematic. Visual-replica terms cover scripted cinematic scenes; visual replica use in gameplay is outside those replica terms and may qualify for a secondary performance payment. SAG-AFTRA and the employer bargaining group also retain differing positions on some performance-capture coverage issues. It would therefore be inaccurate to say all visual, movement or AI-generated material receives identical treatment.
Compensation depends on the covered use
The contract provides compensation for covered replica use and for the time spent creating a replica. Under the vocal digital-replica provision, the member booklet sets out a session fee for every 300 generated vocal lines. For visual replicas, it provides no less than scale based on the employer’s good-faith estimate of production days. These are contract rules for uses within the relevant definitions, not a universal fee for every AI-related task.
Consent has limits on suspension and revocation
Consent for new replica-generated material is automatically suspended during a strike affecting the interactive program in question. The agreement also provides for written suspension in certain other covered situations. The FAQ says consent generally cannot be revoked at will after it is granted, except where suspension conditions have been separately bargained or the strike provision applies. Use is no longer permitted if it departs from the reasonably specific intended-use description.
Ordinary audio processing is treated differently
The agreement excludes specified routine processing practices from its replica terms, including editing for clarity, noise reduction, timing, speed, pitch and tone. The key distinction is whether the work falls within the agreement’s definition of a digital replica, rather than whether software or an AI-based tool was involved at some point.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the agreement can be enforced
The official FAQ describes several available channels: member reports of replica use, claims, arbitration and information requests under the National Labor Relations Act. These mechanisms provide ways to raise and resolve concerns; the published materials do not establish how often they have been used or the outcomes of disputes under the ratified agreement.
What the interview means now
Elmaleh’s comments remain useful for understanding the bargaining principles behind the dispute, but they describe the position before settlement. The ratified 2025 agreement is the relevant source for the resulting contractual protections. Its central idea aligns with her interview framework—meaningful information and consent, paired with compensation—but the precise obligations depend on the contract’s definitions, the kind of replica and its intended use.
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