The Witcher Voice Actor Doug Cockle Calls AI 'Inevitable' but 'Dangerous'

ign.com:

The Witcher voice actor Doug Cockle has expressed caution and frustration at the growing presence of artificial intelligence within the video game industry, calling it "inevitable" but "dangerous".

Cockle, who voices Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher game series and upcoming Netflix film Sirens of the Deep, told IGN that his main concern isn't with AI itself, but people using it for nefarious purposes.

"AI is inevitable and developers will use AI. We are not 100% sure exactly what that means," Cockle said. "They're already doing it in various ways, filling in 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."

Cockle was contacted by an AI company a few years ago who wanted to upload his Geralt voice to its database. "And I said no, and I still say no. But that's not because I don't like AI," he said.

"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."

Even if people are using the voice with good intentions, like genuine fans making Witcher mods, it directly impacts voice actors, Cockle said. "Every time somebody does that, they're effectively robbing me of income, and not just me, any other voice actor who they do it with," he said. "We're all