AI use has easily been one of the most controversial topics this year in film and video games. Actors have expressed an understandable weariness of the technology, saying that it could one day be used to replace them.
David Cockle, the actor who lent his voice to Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher series, recently raised concerns about the use of AI for video games.
In a recent interview with IGN, the voice actor said that the adoption of AI is inevitable and unfortunate, as it replaces human actors. He also said that the use of digitized clones of voices is somehow unethical.
“AI is inevitable and developers will use AI. We are not 100% sure exactly what that means,” Cockle said. “They’re already doing it in various ways, filling in the background, NPC voices, and things like that, which is unfortunate because those voices were all human beings at one point, and the voices are all modeled on human beings. So they have taken someone’s voice, put it into their database, digitized it, and are using it to say things that the individual never said. There’s something unethical about that and so there’s a lot of debate going on.”
The actor also shared that he has been offered by an AI company to upload Geralt’s voice to its database. Cockle refused the offer and also plans to reject future invitations. He explained that the reason he refused is because he has been a victim of voice cloning in mods for The Witcher series.
“It’s because I think with voice actors, particularly with voice actors who do main character roles, it is a reality that people are ripping our voices off,” Cockle shared. “That’s happening. It’s happened to me on multiple occasions. I can’t even police it because I would spend all my time policing this stupid stuff.”
Cockle cautioned modders using AI-generated voices saying that mods created using a digitized clone of his voice are “effectively robbing me of income.” He laments that he isn’t the only one affected by AI voice cloning technology, but others as well.
“Every time somebody does that, they’re effectively robbing me of income, and not just me, any other voice actor who they do it with,” he said. “We’re all watching our voices get used in ways that we would rather they weren’t.”
The actor also fears that digital voices could be used to produce harmful content such as fake news, false opinions, and other nefarious ways. AI voice generation could potentially be “dangerous” in the wrong hands according to Cockle.
“Somebody could use AI to produce something racist using Geralt’s voice, using my voice, or just something against anything that most normal people think is good. That’s where the AI gets dangerous.”
While AI does help speed up video game development, voice actors should still be utilized more. AI dialogue still feels detached and unnatural in games and often breaks immersion. A healthy mix of real voices for the main characters and AI-generated background dialogue should be the way forward. At this point, it is still hard to imagine someone like Geralt of Rivia using exclusively AI-generated voice lines.
