Ashly Burch, a prolific voice actor known for voicing Aloy in the Horizon video game series, has commented on the role of artificial intelligence in gaming after criticizing a leaked video that showed an AI-powered Aloy. Speaking to Eurogamer, Burch said she believes AI can be a “great thing” for developers to help make their jobs easier, but she is urging caution when it comes to AI and performers.
“I think that AI as a tool to make things easier on devs would be a great thing. Like, I think I’ve heard someone say before something like, ‘Oh, if we used artificial intelligence to help with clean up between the mo-cap stage and importing it into the actual game engine, that could be amazing,'” she said. “So, things that help streamline the development process [and] help make people’s jobs easier, I think is great.”
For a performer like herself, Burch said she would “really have to know” how a developer would implement protections to ensure an AI-powered version of a character she played wouldn’t say “something awful.” This is coming up after Epic used AI to create an AI version of Darth Vader, with players able to communicate with him and have him speak all kinds of phrases in the voice of the late James Earl Jones.
Burch said AI is “such a new technology,” so she can’t say for sure how it’s all going to shake out. However, she said Horizon developer Guerrilla “really cares about performance in its games,” and she can’t foresee a future where Guerrilla “just replaces every single actor they have with a robot…”
Burch went on to say that she fears smaller-profile voiceover roles are “at risk of being replaced” due to AI advancements, and she thinks this is a problem for up-and-coming actors.
“I think that kind of work is essential for people to be A) able to make rent, and then B) be able to hone their craft and get better. It’s important to me that actors continue to have the opportunity to act,” she said.
A since-removed video showed an internal tech demo in which Sony Interactive Entertainment’s director of software engineering Sharwin Raghoebardajal held a conversation with an AI-powered Aloy. Raghoebardajal said in the video the AI Aloy was a prototype designed alongside Guerrilla Games to demonstrate what could be possible with the technology.
The AI tech demo did not use any of Burch’s performance data (voice and motion capture) and was not a project that was in active development. But that didn’t change the fact that Burch said the video made her worried.
In related news, the lengthy video game voice-actor strike has come to an end. One of the final sticking points in the negotiations pertained to the use of AI.
