According to Doug Cockle, the use of AI is “unethical.”
The use of AI in various industries has become a hot topic in the last year. The truth is that many businesses are looking to cut costs by replacing the work of real people with programs, whether they are artists or actors. Many people have spoken out against the use of these programs because they are based on work created by real people. Doug Cockle, a voice actor, is the latest to express his concerns. Cockle is Geralt of Rivia in CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher games. Cockle discussed the unethical nature of AI in an interview with IGN.
“AI is inevitable and developers will use AI. We are not 100% sure exactly what that means,” Cockle said in the interview with IGN. “They’re already doing it in various ways, filling in the background, NPC voices, and things like that, which is unfortunate because those voices were all human beings at one point, and the voices are all modelled on human beings. So they have taken someone’s voice, put it into their database, digitized it, and are using it to say things that the individual never said. There’s something unethical about that and so there’s a lot of debate going on.”
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Actors:
AI was a major factor in the 2023 Actors’ Strike, with SAG-AFTRA strongly opposing its use by studios. The use of AI in a variety of industries will only become more contentious and complicated in the coming years. Some companies are vying for the rights to the voices of deceased actors and actresses, while others are vying for the voices of living actors like Cockle to be replicated. Unfortunately, not all actors have this option, and Cockle claims that companies are taking advantage of him without compensating him.
“…I said no, and I still say no. But that’s not because I don’t like AI,” Cockle continued. “It’s because I think with voice actors, particularly with voice actors who do main character roles, it is a reality that people are ripping our voices off. That’s happening. It’s happened to me on multiple occasions. I can’t even police it because I would spend all my time policing this stupid stuff.”
The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Video Games:
While AI-voiced video games may appear to be a distant problem, some studios are already embracing it. The Finals sparked outrage earlier this year when it was revealed that the game uses a combination of actual voice work and AI voices generated by text-to-speech conversion. The game is unlikely to be the last, and it will be interesting to see how it affects the industry in the future. One thing is certain: big names like Doug Cockle are unlikely to sign away their voice rights anytime soon. Readers who want to hear Cockle’s true Geralt voice in a new Witcher project can do so in Netflix’s Sirens of the Deep, which will be released next year.