Video Game Cyberpunk 2077 Uses AI To Replace Deceased Voice Actor
Video Game Cyberpunk 2077 Uses AI To Replace Deceased Voice Actor
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I hate it. They did it almost as ethically as possible (receiving the actual actor's permission would be better), but still, it opens the door. Can we just let the dead rest, and hire the living?
Mixed thoughts here. I guess I’d also hate if they would have changed the French voice actor for Viktor (Lionel Tua) in the main release afterwards to match with the new voice added later, since, for me (and I guess for a bunch of other people since the actor is quite known for his voice acting), his voice has really something special, such as the French V female voice for instance.
For sure tho, if they wouldn’t have the authorization from the family, I’d be completely against this. And I guess they couldn’t have the actor authorization anyhow (like, hey bud’, just in case you die in the next months, could we redo your voice with AI?)
Agreed. I think rerecording all his lines and replacing them somehow feels more disrespecful than asking his families permission and using AI to reproduce his voice. I wouldnt want my work just deleted and started fresh under the same circumstances.
I don't get why the idea that they could simply record new lines without redubbing the game isn't even being considered. Did WB reshoot the first Harry Potter movie after Richard Harris died? Did Nickelodeon redub Uncle Iroh after Mako died?
Such agreement will probably just be included in future contracts.
I actually know of a clause in a recent contract for a small, one-episode/one-line role in a new TV show, that said it gave permission to use something (I was told) that said "synthesized performances".
Like I said the role was small, not a big-name actor/who might die soon. It was just a character who worked in a place who would've been seen regularly in the background. So the agent said it was their guess that the production would film the character live first, then recreate the person with A.I. after that.
The agent struck out the clause, and the production accepted it.
So could that mean they'll do the right thing and pay the actor to come back every time they need filler? Or just won't fill-in future scenes with that character/actor, to save paying them?
And did they intend that just for this character this time, or all the other small & background characters in that scene & beyond? Or are they just testing the waters, putting it in all contracts for any size role from now-on, just in-case?
I guess we'll see how many agents are reading every clause buried within the sea of standard stuff.
And I hope it comes with royalties for the families.
Would you prefer they recast and re-record over his voice so the family didn’t get any royalties and his name is less well-known? It’s not hard to make regulations that you need consent from next of kin and have to pay to use the “likeness” of their voice like you do with appearance. Refusing to use new technology because someone might misuse it before regulations are in place are what luddites do
I'd prefer they simply cast someone else who can do the character's voice, without redubbing the original game. It won't sound as good, but it's better than legitimizing this practice. Soon enough voice actors will barely exist because some set of actors will have licensed their voice for use in this technology. Who would pay full price for a real actor when they can pay a fraction of the price for a company to generate the audio for them? AI models are already close to passing the audio equivalent of the Turing test. It's hard to tell that the voice narrating a tiktok video is AI unless you've heard the same voice elsewhere or the uploader made a typo.
And yeah, I am a Luddite. Idunno if you know what they were actually about, but I'm not ashamed to call myself one.