Ninja Theory, other triple-A devs reportedly using AI voice acting tech over people
A new report from Good Luck Have Fun reveals that multiple triple-A game developers are using an AI program for voice acting in lieu of human talent. The company behind the technology is Altered AI, which contains a library of vocal performances, including around 20 professional voice actors.
Though it shares similarities with text-to-speech, which reads sentences back in audio, AI voice acting is considered more ethically dicey. As there are tools that can change a voice actor's tone and voice type, there have been concerns that the technology could be used to supplant voice actors entirely.
NDAs mean that only two developers are explicitly named in the report: Hellblade developer Ninja Theory allegedly has a partnership with Altered. Additionally, Neon Giant reportedly used Altered for the voice acting in its 2021 game, The Ascent.
The technology is typically used for prototyping purposes, according to Altered CEO Ioannis Agiomyrgiannakis, who argued that his company was doing for voice acting what YouTube has done for video.
"When you have a dialogue, you have a level of imagination. But when you take the dialogue to the voice actors, it comes back and doesn’t sound as dynamic as you wanted it to," explained Agiomyrgiannakis. "We provide an intermediate step where they can prototype the dialogue and have a checkpoint before they hit the studio.”
Video games have had a rocky relationship with voice acting, with US screen actors guild SAG-AFTRA going on strike in 2017 in the name of video game voice actors getting better pay and benefits. Several titles were noticeably affected during that strike, including the Life is Strange prequel Before the Storm and Mortal Kombat 11. A deal was eventually struck, which ends in
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