To be blunt, humanity is at a crossroads right now with how it will handle AI in the future. Previously, AI was something that we had in very small doses and could only be used for certain things. Then, through items like Alexa, they expanded, and now we’re on the cusp of them being used for various things like writing scripts or potentially voicing characters in shows and video games. This legitimate fear has caused the writers of Hollywood to go on strike, amongst other reasons, and many others to speak out against AI being used to “take their jobs.” One such voice is the legendary man behind Solid Snake, David Hayter.
Hayter has always been a supporter of voice actors since he is one and has been one for decades. But during an interview with Eurogamer, he broke down what he thought of AI users for things like voiceover and why it’ll never work as intended.
“Anybody who steals your voice should be locked up for forever, but I also have a different perspective on it.”
He revealed to them that he once used ChatGPT to make a script for something. He did it “for fun” and not intending to try to sell the script. Want to know how it went? He called it “the worst, most clichéd, soulless, dumbest collection of words I’ve ever seen.”
He’s not the first to say that kind of thing. During the early days of the Hollywood Writer’s Strike, someone used such a program to make a script about a writer’s room writing a scene involving a writer’s strike, and the jokes were so cliché it hurt to read.
But as for AI taking over voice acting positions, David Hayter had some unique thoughts on that, too, stating, “the technology to copy our voices is amazing. If you Google ‘deep fake voice, replication of Biden’, for example, you know, they’ve got him saying all these crazy things, or whatever. But if you listen to it, there’s no soul to it. It’s still clearly just a manufactured version of his voice.”
He’s not wrong, people have used, for fun, AI voices to make memes of various things, including former Presidents talking about video games, and while it was entertaining to watch, you could tell it wasn’t their real voices.
Hayter feels that voice actors should have multiple protections from having their voices “stolen” by AI, but he also feels that we don’t have much to worry about right now because the machines can’t perfectly replicate what a voice actor can give to a role.
