Equity warns over AI rights assignment in game casting

UK performers' union Equity published an urgent warning on 23 October 2026 about a video game casting that it says sets out the use of AI alongside a full assignment of rights to the end client, and told members and agents to proceed with extreme caution.

The notice, titled "Urgent Information on Galaxy Video Game Casting", states that Equity "have been made aware of a video game casting which explicitly outlines the use of AI and a full assignment of rights to the end client," and walks through the terms so performers can see what they would be signing. Equity says it cannot name the game or the studio because of a non-disclosure agreement, and that the detailed terms, which it has not seen, will be given to agents and performers under that NDA.

On the assignment, Equity says a full assignment means any rights a performer has over their image, voice, likeness or performance are signed away, with all of them belonging to the end client, in this case the publisher of the game. Performers would have no future right to consent to any other use of the work.

The warning extends Equity's September push for mandatory AI terms in UK film and TV contracts, made as the synthetic performer Tilly Norwood turned one.

The clause Equity labels "AI/LLM Training and Speech Model Usage" stands for artificial intelligence, large language model and speech model usage. The notice says the performer's voice would be used to train the software and make a voice model likely recognizable to that performer, and it states: "You would have no legal ownership of this AI voice, and this could directly impact your ability to work in future." Sessions a performer was paid for, Equity adds, could later be replaced by that AI voice.

A buyout, Equity explains, is a one-time fee for the work and its use. The notice says that leaves performers with no scope to negotiate additional payments, so a sequel or a further game using the AI voice would bring the performer nothing more. Equity adds that the broad terms let the client use the voice, work and recordings in any way it wants, wherever it wants and forever, including film or TV projects adapted from the game, without extra payment.

Two further risks sit in the same clause. Equity says the performer's voice could be made to say things they never said, or to express views they do not hold and could have refused to perform in studio, and that their likeness would be attached to the project in a way they cannot stop or influence.

Equity is explicit that this is not a call to refuse AI. Its stated position is that performers are entitled to fair compensation, control and consent, and it argues the broad terms of this casting offer none of the three. The union frames the notice as part of a standing fight to help members resist what it calls an influx of bad terms and conditions around AI.

The legal context makes the word "assignment" the load-bearing one. In a UK Intellectual Property Office copyright notice, an assignment is a transfer of ownership of rights, not a permission to use them, and to be valid it must be in writing and signed by the person giving the rights up. A UCL explainer on assignment draws the line between an assignment and a license as the difference between selling a house and leasing one. Equity's Open Letter on AI training notes that performers' rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 can be transferred or waived. The union's AI Vision Statement goes further, arguing that the right to consent over machine learning use of a performance cannot be assigned or waived at all, a union position rather than settled law.

The buyout by itself is not unusual in games. Equity's recommended minimum rate card for AAA games sets a voiceover minimum of £300 per hour and a standard usage buyout under which a performer gives up ongoing or residual rights for a one-time payment, and the union records there that it does not endorse universal buyouts of original material, while acknowledging them as the established model. The concern on 23 October is the combination: a buyout, a full assignment and a training clause.

SAG-AFTRA's 2025 Interactive Media Agreement is the comparison on consent: approved by members by 95.04% to 4.96% and ending the video game strike, it carries AI terms the union describes as consent and disclosure requirements for digital replica use, plus the ability for performers to suspend consent for the generation of new material during a strike. SAG-AFTRA states in its statement on AI and digital doubles that members must always work under a union contract anywhere they work.

For creators and the productions buying game performance, the notice works as a reading guide. A UK voice or performance deal that pairs a buyout with a training clause and a full assignment hands over an asset a studio would otherwise have to negotiate for separately. Equity's advice is that performers are entitled to seek advice on contracts even under an NDA, from a professional body such as the union, and its games team takes queries at games@equity.org.uk.

Equity has named neither the game nor the studio, and the next thing to watch is whether it publishes the clause text or names an employer counterparty, since the notice is guidance and not a rule.