Hi-Rez Studios develops the popular games SMITE and Paladins. Now there were probably plans to switch to an AI voice output in your own games. But neither the players nor the voice actors liked it.
Now the makers of Paladins and Smite, Hi-Rez Studios, have drawn social media trouble after a voice actor discovered plans to use AI to clone voiceovers.
Players and voice actors took to Twitter to rant at the company, which eventually pulled back and announced a change to contracts.
AI to clone voices, players are angry
Voice actor Henry Schrader tweeted that Hi-Rez Studios had plans to clone voices. As he writes on Twitter:
For those who don’t know, Hi-Rez Studios, the makers of Paladins and Smite, have said they will use AI to clone voices and have refused to sign contracts that would protect actors from doing so.
Voice actor Henry Schrader’s post drew so much attention that the studio’s president, Stewart Chisam, tweeted a modified version of the addendum to the contract.
That calmed things down for the time being, but the players are still upset. And the fears not only affect the game studio, but also many other areas of life. Because AI has been getting more and more powerful for months.
A lot of people are afraid of losing their job to AI
What is behind the discussion? The function and capabilities of AI have been discussed for months. Because many are not only impressed by the skills, but also fear that artificial intelligence could also take over jobs in the long term.
The angry reaction from voice actors is therefore not surprising. Because the use of AI would probably lead to the end of their work or at least to a reduction in their time.
A woman had to experience firsthand the fear of becoming superfluous:
A woman loses her job thanks to ChatGPT because the AI costs less: “I was made redundant”