MANILA -- People should think twice before using artificial intelligence to generate their favorite game characters' voice, some of their voice actors said, sounding the alarm on its nonconsensual use.
In their panel during the last day of CONQuest 2023 at Conrad Hotel, Anne Yatco, Ratana, Adam McArthur, Laura Stahl and Vanille Velasquez were asked on their opinions on the usage of artificial intelligence to generate voices.
For Laura Stahl, the voice behind Barbara and Xinyan of Genshin Impact, while AI is being used for voices to replicate silly memes, the practice may be used for malicious things.
"I know for a fact have had our voices placed in AI without consent, and sometimes being placed for silly memes which people feel like is not harmful. But oftentimes it could be used to say horrible things that we would never ever want to say which is heartbreaking. Especially if there's a possibility that it becomes so well-used that you cannot discern whether it's real or a computer," Stahl said.
Pinay voice actress Vanille Velasquez expressed her dismay: "I hate them. Stop putting my voice in these."
The voice behind Neon of hit first-person-shooting game Valorant later on elaborated: "I'm also very concerned. I don't know with these companies who have samples with our voice. I don't know what they're doing with them."
One thing that would make the practice of AI okay would boil down to how artists are being compensated for it, says Stahl.
"If there is full transparency and control and strong compensation and letting us know that they are not simply trying to get rid of voice actors not just ourselves but the profession of acting as we know it we would like that to continue because art is an important part of a human being," Stahl said.
Adam McArthur, the voice behind Yuji Itadori of hit anime Jujutsu Kaisen, believes that beyond compensation, AI adopting their voices should be used with consent.
"If someone came up to me asking for 32 million dollars to use my voice, okay. Sure [...] Right now it's just being snuck into things and being used without our permission. And it's something that's moving so quickly that it's hard to figure out where it's at to know how to adjust and compensate for it," he said.
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