Neil Newbon, the actor behind the lovable vampire Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3, has some advice for studios that have made big bucks from games that use generative AI to deliver voice lines: Go back and do it right, idiots.
Speaking to PCGN, Newbon minced no words about the proliferation of generative AI as a replacement for human-voiced dialogue: “fuck AI in performance,” he said to thunderous virtual applause.
“I don’t think it’s justified to take away people’s jobs,” he added. “I don’t really think it’s legit.”
While many leading game developers and publishers are adopting some level of AI in the production pipeline, replacing human actors with generative AI is still thankfully rare, although games like Arc Raiders are criticized for using AI-generated text-to-speech voices. Newbon declined to comment on these cases, but has taken a strong stance against generative AI for performance.
“If you don’t record the lines in the first place and just use AI to take someone’s voice and manipulate it the way you want, that’s a problem,” he said. “You deprive that artist of the cachet of that day, and you deprive that artist of the ability to take care of themselves or their family – most actors, notoriously, are not wealthy. Most of us struggle to [for] our entire career.
“The justification is difficult. ‘Ah, we couldn’t really afford it’; well, maybe find a way, now that you’ve made your money, to go back on those lines and do better.
Newbon also criticized generative AI directly on its merits, saying that AI voices are simply “crappy,” “annoying,” and “boring as hell.” He said developers using AI could kill two birds with one stone by going back and paying actors to voice those lines, because doing so would theoretically improve the quality of their games by allowing real humans to evoke real emotions and send a shot of goodwill that would reverberate throughout the industry.
“No matter how much this progresses, it still doesn’t seem right,” he said. “And I would say to anyone who did a ton of shit with a release that used generative AI for voices: maybe go back to the actors that you paid, whatever the price was to clone their voices, maybe bring them into the booth and re-record this thing. I’m just saying. You’ve got the money now, spread the wealth. I think that would certainly do a lot of good for the actors, and it would certainly do a lot of goodwill in the community, because a lot of people have a feeling about this as well. For longevity, probably a good idea for decency, you know? »
While this undeniably seems like a good, true, and righteous thing to do, my cynical mind can’t help but sniff at a pie hanging high in the sky. A company that pursues profit before the livelihood of the actors probably won’t sympathize much with said actors, but it’s a nice ideal to contemplate.
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