WE LIVE IN A HELL WORLD

WE LIVE IN A HELL WORLD

Engadget

SAG-AFTRA strikes deal for AI voice acting licensing in video games at CES 2024

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing thousands of performers, has struck a deal with an AI voice acting platform aimed at making it easier for

Snippets from the article by Karissa Bell:

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing thousands of performers, has struck a deal with an AI voice acting platform aimed at making it easier for actors to license their voice for use in video games. ...

the agreements cover the creation of so-called “digital voice replicas” and how they can be used by game studios and other companies. The deal has provisions for minimum rates, safe storage and transparency requirements, as well as “limitations on the amount of time that a performance replica can be employed without further payment and consent.”

Notably, the agreement does not cover whether actors’ replicas can be used to train large language models (LLMs), though Replica Studios CEO Shreyas Nivas said the company was interested in pursuing such an arrangement. “We have been talking to so many of the large AAA studios about this use case,” Nivas said. He added that LLMs are “out-of-scope of this agreement” but “they will hopefully [be] things that we will continue to work on and partner on.”

...Even so, some well-known voice actors were immediately skeptical of the news, as the BBC reports. In a press release, SAG-AFTRA said the agreement had been approved by "affected members of the union’s voiceover performer community." But on X, voice actors said they had not been given advance notice. "How has this agreement passed without notice or vote," wrote Veronica Taylor, who voiced Ash in Pokémon. "Encouraging/allowing AI replacement is a slippery slope downward." Roger Clark, who voiced Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, also suggested he was not notified about the deal. "If I can pay for permission to have an AI rendering of an ‘A-list’ voice actor’s performance for a fraction of their rate I have next to no incentive to employ 90% of the lesser known ‘working’ actors that make up the majority of the industry," Clark wrote.

SAG-AFTRA’s deal with Replica only covers a sliver of the game industry. Separately, the union is also negotiating with several of the major game studios after authorizing a strike last fall. “I certainly hope that the video game companies will take this as an inspiration to help us move forward in that negotiation,” Crabtree said.

And here are some various reactions I've found about things people in/adjacent to this can do

And in OTHER AI games news, Valve is updating it's TOS to allow AI generated content on steam so long as devs promise they have the rights to use it, which you can read more about on Aftermath in this article by Luke Plunkett

aftermath.site

Steam's New AI Rules Will Open The Floodgates To A River Of Shit - Aftermath

'Our goal continues to be shipping as many games as possible'

He is 🟨

To Dream of Reality ~Mona~

“fate, and interpretation”

MASTERLIST

TWs: loneliness, headache, SERIOUS HEADACHE,

This one’s more focused on the effect of the Creator and their effect on the world, using Mona to tell the tale.

~~

Blaring city lights kept the night at bay, the darkness a mere shade compared to the devouring blackness that seemed to consume the world. And yet, the specks that had offered gentle light upon that night weren’t visible anymore. Constellations existed, but were not bright enough to be seen anymore, the gentle hope in the darkness vanished behind the brightness of electric lights.

You wondered if the stars had something in store for you, if the skies of your homeland had a place for you.

If Teyvat’s own skies could fit whole constellations for each of their children, then…

If you could only be there,

Maybe you would have a place to belong.

~~

Viator, Viatrix, Lepus, Tempus Fugit, Pavo Ocellus. 

The first five constellations to light up with the Creator’s sacred touch, the first to be blessed with the gift of becoming their loyal vessel.

Crater and Parma Cordis had lit up soon after, before the stars of Liyue began to light up alongside those from Mond. At first, Mona had assumed that the Creator only wished to bless those of Freedom and Contract, but as soon as the Traveler had traveled beyond the storm of Inazuma, Grus Nivis of the Kamisato Heiress had lit up.

The constellations had no particular pattern to their awakening, and the distribution of Stella Fortuna, the mysterious substance known to make a Vision Wielder's- an Allogene’s, if the drunkard bard was to be believed- constellation even stronger. It was thought that only the Creator could give Stella Fortuna, and that they distributed them to their most beloved Allogenes.

Master Ragnvindr had four, a child from Liyue had five, and some even had all their stars blessed.

Mona’s constellation still hadn’t been blessed by the Creator’s touch, much less gifted with a Stella Fortuna.

It was taboo to read one’s own constellation, so Mona never looked into it. 

She stood upon a lake, watching the reflection of stars in her water, each twitch and glimmer of the mysterious lights pulling her attention left and right.

10 lights began to move. 

It happened quite often, and together, one of those 10 lights would shatter, becoming weapons forged from long ago, and one would turn violet, carrying the Creator’s blessing or perhaps a stronger weapon.

It didn’t turn violet.

It burned gold.

Like Master Ragvindr and Acting-GrandMaster Gunnhildr… was she also seen as a “Gold Fortuna”?

The golden light enveloped Mona, and she felt Astrolabos respond. She felt the light in her body, the warm touch of a Divine behind her.

She moved to the Creator’s will, feeling the rush of excitement that the Creator surely felt as she dashed over-on top of the lake. Not swimming but gliding upon it.

It was… exhilarating.

~

The arrival of the Creator themself had alerted Mona one morning, a few days after Glory reported Their Grace’s sudden disappearance. 

“Your Grace?” She asked the stranger.

The Creator’s presence was absolute. None could ever hope to imitate it, nor could anyone deny it.

And yet, they looked so perfectly… normal.

Wings did not sprout from their back nor did their eyes appear like gems and stars, but they… they were human. Or appeared to be. 

“Yes?” they responded, at last. “Are you Mona Magistus?”

She nodded, hesitantly. 

“Could you read my fortune?”

Mona agreed. How could she not, as a request of the True Divine?

And all the same, how could she? Read into the stars and future for information about the star itself?

Nonetheless, she tried. 

Creator, a constellation named after who it represented, an Olde Teyvanese word so sacred, its name was unchanged when the Common-Tongue was established. A constellation spanning the entire night sky, even the stars that were not visible at the time. For a mere apprentice to attempt to read the fate of the world itself…

She saw.

The cold, lonely warmth of someone surrounded by people, yet always alone. Surrounded and spoken to, acknowledged but never embraced. Technology far superior to Teyvat’s own was everywhere, and despite it all, the Creator still seemed unsatisfied. Was this the Creator’s-

Her eyes began to burn.

Her head began to ache.

A jackhammer- why did she know what a jackhammer was- against her forehead. Light filled her sight and pierced through her eyes. It throbbed. Her eyes- her mind- it was too much. Too much. 

Mona’s hydro-bubble burst, water splashing against the ground.

“Are you okay?” The Creator asked, their hands grasping Mona’s own, sacred light flowing through her body.

“I- am fine, Your Grace. In terms of your future, it will one surrounded by those who will love you no matter what.” She responded. It wasn’t a lie.

She would make sure of it.

The Creator’s hands tightened slightly around hers.

“You promise?” they whispered, and Mona no longer saw a proud God, a true Divine. 

She saw a fragile person who only wanted to cradle their loved ones in their arms. One who wanted to spend time with their family. Not a god, but a mortal, a blasphemous thought to be sure. 

“Because I don’t want to go.”

And just like water, they slipped through her fingers and became nothing but a phantom touch.

~

Your eyelids peeled open, the night cold and chilling as it embraced you. You sat by the window, gazing emptily at what few stars you could see, longing for the warmth in your dreams. Like the volume of cotton candy melting to a sugary mass, your dream felt so heavy, yet you couldn’t grasp it.

You were lonely, you realized. The kind of loneliness you feel once you realize your friends are no longer here. But it’s been years. Why now, of all times, do you long for the friendly smile and smirk of a close friend…?

…

You’re tired.

Something about your dream captivates you even more than before.

A siren-song calling you to a place further away than even your dreams, beyond reality.

You want to go to sleep and sleep forever, but at the same time, you fear death.

…

It doesn’t matter.

Back to work.

There’s no time for sleep. 

No time for dreams.

Not when the city-lights outshine the night.

i think what’s on a person’s nightstand is very telling so reblog this and put in the tags the things you have on your nightstand

Nice argument! Unfortunately I have hoarded 30 smokepowder barrels over the course of the game just for you

[Stickers here!]