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Electronic Arts
The battle between artistic minds and AI continues just as SAG-AFTRA's strike against video game studios. Voice actors from all over the world talk about the dangers of letting companies train AI on their voices, and it seems like one more big publisher wants to get its piece.
Pascale Chemin, who voices Wraith in Apex Legends, published a letter revealing that she and 31 of her colleagues had been asked to sign an agreement that would allow AI to "take" their voices.
"Before being even called in for a recording session of a video game, the studio sent me (and the 31 other VA in the casting) a mail containing an annex of confidentiality and handover directly from the publisher," she said (as translated by ResetEra's user Rouk'). "I needed to accept these terms before being able to go work. I thought so when I read through them and a legal expert specialised in audiovisual confirmed it: these terms weren't acceptable. I was now forced to give up the role I had been working on for almost 6 years. In no way could I force the rest of the casting members to do the same, but one thing was certain: if we all refused, it could maybe have an impact. Otherwise, it would have been in vain."
Now, the message doesn't explicitly say it's about EA, but the actors Chemin tagged all work on Apex Legends, which, coincidentally, launched 6 years ago.
The voice actors refused to sign the contract – a dangerous decision in the time of layoffs but an important one for the future.
"We are asked to give up our expertise to train the generative AI that will replace us tomorrow. We are asked to agree to what we specifically fight against. We are asked to shoot ourselves in the foot. We are asked to support AI."
One might argue that the letter has nothing to do with EA, but the company has already publically spoken in favor of the wonders of AI, so I personally believe this is exactly what's happening.
Training AI on human voices is a huge red flag for voice actors, who will be left without work if this becomes a commonly accepted trend – something SAG-AFTRA is fighting against. Naturally, "employing" artificial intelligence is better for companies as this would cost a fraction of what they pay real people and would provide endless content. Hopefully, this is not the future we're heading towards.
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