AI has continued to thrive over these past few years. It’s undoubtedly become a major hot topic for a wide variety of industries. There’s a push to see AI help aid in certain areas, but there is also a push to ensure that AI is not taking jobs. One industry that has been worried about AI is the entertainment industry. AI can help create new content and even replicate the likeness of individuals. As a result, we’re seeing unions like SAG-AFTRA trying to ease the threat of AI replicating certain aspects like voice acting. Something that was just recently done for a certain Grand Theft Auto character.
Today, thanks to a report from VGC, we’re discovering that Ned Luke has recently taken issue with WAME, a company by Web3. If you missed it, this past weekend, the company released a chatbot for those of you who were fans of Grand Theft Auto. Apparently, this chatbot was replicated to take on the character of Michael De Santa. Not only did the chatbot reply as Michael, but it also had vocal capabilities that replicated the actor Ned Luke’s voice.
Ned Luke was the actor who stepped into the role of Michael and fully embraced the character and the video game. After all, the game was a massive worldwide hit that left quite an impact. So you can still find Ned speaking on his time working with Rockstar Games to bring Michael to life and embracing the franchise. However, upon discovering this chatbot, Ned called out the company and tagged Rockstar Games alongside fellow actor Roger Clark along with SAG-AFTRA. As you can imagine, the actor was not pleased with his voice being replicated.
The chatbot has since been removed, and it has left another surge of actors to be vocal regarding their union. As we reported last week, there was a surprise deal with SAG-AFTRA with the use of AI. It seems that this deal would ensure that actors would have to give consent and receive fair compensation. But there was also a ton of feedback from actors who were frustrated that they were not made aware of this deal. With the union in place to protect members, there seems to be a feeling that this union took a big misstep by not making things more transparent. At any rate, we’ll just have to see how AI impacts the entertainment industry and if the unions get involved.
