Victoria Atkin was the voice of Evie Frye in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Now her voice has apparently been used by modders without her consent – with the help of AI.
We haven’t just known since yesterday that artificial intelligence is currently very trendy. It optimises processes in companies, illegally helps students with their A-level exams… and can even recreate the voices and faces of actors without them ever having to come to the studio a second time.
So far so practical. But this application also carries risks. Because through the use of AI, skills can be effortlessly copied without them ever having given their consent or been adequately compensated.
Evie Frye’s voice “Stolen“
On Twitter, voice actress Victoria Atkin, who lent her voice to the character Evie Frye in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate has now spoken out. In a post, Atkin reported that modders had recently stolen her voice ““
Concretely, this means: Atkin’s voice was used without her knowing The modders fed an AI with her Voice Lines and trained it to spit out audio that sounded like Atkin. The new voice lines were then used as dubbing for a mod.
Update on this… AI just stole my voice for this role. @sagaftra @WGAEast @WGAWest Unionstrong videogames performancecapture eviefrye AssassinsCreed @assassinscreed @Ubisoft @latimes @Variety @DEADLINE @IGN https: //t. co/IUGta4Pssh
– Victoria Atkin (@VictoriaAtkin) July 15, 2023
In modding commonplace
In the modding scene, the use of AI has actually increased a lot in recent years. In the past, if modders wanted to expand the voice lines of characters, they had to painstakingly record new texts themselves or search for similar-sounding speakers. The result was often unsatisfactory for fans.
Hiring professional voice actors is expensive. Because unlike the big film studios, modders rarely earn money from their work. AI can provide a miraculous remedy here.
Moreover, the major modding website Nexus Mods does not explicitly prohibit its use. However, one should not play fast and loose with it. You could at least ask the original speakers for permission.
What do you think of the AI replacement for voice actors: danger or good thing? Feel free to discuss in the comments.
