'None of Us Want Our Voices Replicated': Voice Actors Say Union's 'Ethical' AI Deal Is Bad for Humans.

The summer of 2023 was marked by a serious strike by creatives involved in Hollywood studios. Lasting 118 days, this situation highlighted the serious consequences brought by artificial intelligence within the arts sector.

During the first weeks of 2024, the SAG-AFTRA union announced an "innovative" collaboration with Replica Studios, an AI-powered voice generation studio to produce copies of voice actors' voices. The agreement would allow the latter to choose whether to lend their voices to be used as training data for the company, and later as official voices for certain video games.

As simple and peaceful a deal as it may seem, Hollywood voice actors have emphasized how this development opens the door to artificial intelligence within the art of voice acting, allowing this technology to replace even more human figures.