"Ashly Burch Worried About AI's Impact on Game Art"

Ashly Burch, the voice behind Aloy in the Horizon series, recently addressed a leaked AI-generated video featuring her character. The video, which emerged last week and was reported by The Verge, showcased Sony's technology using AI to simulate a conversation with Aloy. Despite Sony's lack of response to IGN's inquiries, the now-deleted video displayed a robotic voice and stiff facial animations, clearly distinct from Burch's performance.

In a TikTok video, Burch confirmed she had seen the AI Aloy demo and clarified that Guerrilla Games, the developer behind Horizon, assured her that the tech demo did not represent any active development nor did it utilize her performance data. This suggests that AI Aloy will not feature in the upcoming Horizon multiplayer game or the anticipated Horizon 3. However, Burch acknowledged that Sony owns the character of Aloy, raising concerns about the future of game performance as an art form.

Burch leveraged the AI Aloy video to highlight the ongoing video game voice actors' strike. The strike, supported by the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), aims to secure protections against the use of AI in voice acting. Burch expressed worry over the potential for AI to be used without consent or fair compensation, emphasizing the importance of these protections for the future of the industry and the careers of voice actors.

She stressed that the issue isn't the technology itself or the desire of game companies to utilize it, but rather the lack of agreement from the industry bargaining group on providing "common sense protections." Burch pointed out that interim union contracts are available for game companies to sign, which would offer the protections that voice actors are seeking.

The broader context of AI in gaming includes its use and the ethical concerns it raises. For instance, Keywords Studios' attempt to create a fully AI-generated game failed, highlighting AI's limitations. Meanwhile, companies like Activision have used AI for assets in games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, amidst mixed reactions from the gaming community.

The voice actor strike has already impacted several games, with unvoiced NPCs appearing in titles like Destiny 2 and World of Warcraft. Notable cases include the recasting of characters in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and voice actors being replaced in Zenless Zone Zero. Asad Qizilbash from PlayStation Studios emphasized the importance of AI in personalizing gaming experiences for younger audiences, underscoring the ongoing debate over AI's role in the industry.

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