In a win against the misuse of AI, SAG-AFTRA members have approved new three-year television animation contracts that are the first to establish AI protections for voice actors.

The actors’ union has ratified the 2023 Television Animation Agreement and the 2023 Basic Cable Animation Agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers by an overwhelming vote of 95.52% in favor. This follows a tentative agreement with the producers’ alliance that was reached on February 21.

The terms of the animation agreement are similar to the live-action TV/theatrical deal that ended last year’s 118-day actors’ strike, stating that the use of AI to replicate a human voice is not forbidden, but a “voice actor” can only be human.

The guild also adjusted the recognizability requirement to account for the fact that animation voice actors often use character voices unlike their own, according to a summary published Friday by SAG-AFTRA. 

Additionally, the new contracts grant certain consent and compensation rights to animation voice actors when any “digital replica is recognizable as the performer,” and actors are eligible for foreign residuals if their performances are digitally altered into a foreign language and then exhibited.   

The contracts also call for minimum wage rates for animation voice actors to increase by 7% (backdated to July 1, 2023), followed by another 4% rise on July 1, 2024 and a further 3.5% bump in the third year—the same as the TV-theatrical agreement.