Smite Developer Hi-Rez Studios Updated Its Policy on Simulating Actors' Voices with AI

Hi-Rez Studios, the developer behind Smite and Paladins, has changed its policy concerning the use of actors' voices in AI programs after a backlash.

Several days ago, voice actor Henry Schrader revealed that the studio "will be using AI to clone voices." The document said that it could use actors' voices to produce a new "synthetic performance" if they die or can't perform "at any foreseeable time." Basically, actors were supposed to sign the contract so Hi-Rez Studios could potentially create digital doubles if it couldn't work with them any longer.

This vague little detail was alarming for many actors because anything can be swept under the "can't perform" rug. After the situation attracted attention, Hi-Rez's CEO Stewart Chisam announced some changes to the document, removing this condition, so now it states that the studio agrees not to use recorded performances to create digital doubles, without exceptions.

It sounds good, although the first point of the contract still says the company can edit performances using AI tools. I think there might be a way to bypass the changes, but I'm not a lawyer. 

The exceptions have been erased, but the company will not "say never in terms of use of AI" because it's a broad term and because it's impossible to predict the future of AI in a couple of years.

This is far from the first time a voice actor goes against AI. Victoria Atkin, who played Evie Frye in Assassin's Creed Syndicate, called AI an "invisible enemy", and Metal Gear Solid's Colonel Campbell/Paul Eiding spoke against using his voice in AI programs without written permission.

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