Assassin’s Creed Voice Actor calls AI-generated mods “the invisible enemy we’re fighting right now”

AI is at the center of ongoing strikes in Hollywood, as writers and actors worry about how studios will capitalize on rapidly changing technology. These concerns are also spreading in the world of video games, especially in the voice acting community.

Last week, we shared the controversy in the Skyrim community, where dozens of voice actors discovered AI-generated NSFW Skyrim mods using synthetic versions of their actual voice performances. The characters in these mods look like real-life actors, but they say lines that voice actors have never played often in porn contexts. Many of these mods are hosted on the mod distributor Nexus Mods.

Now Victoria Atkin who played Evie Frye in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate in 2015 has discovered that her voice is also being used in AI-generated mods.

An update on this AI just stole my voice for this role. @sagaftra @WGAEast @WGAWest #unionstrong #video games #performancecapture #eviefrye #Assassin’s Creed @assassincreed @Ubisoft @latimes @Variety @DEADLINE @IGN https://t.co/IUGta4Pssh

Victoria Atkin (@VictoriaAtkin) July 15, 2023

IGN spoke with Atkin, alongside Tim Friedlander, Founder and President of the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA), about the continuing threat of AI to the voice acting community.

“I was kind of shocked, really, that it was used without my say, without my consent, it’s right there,” Atkin said of when she learned how her voice sounded. used. “To think that my life could be taken away from me because someone could copy it and modify it and make me say what they want me to say is extremely frightening. It’s a threat everywhere. It’s kind of like this invisible enemy that we’re fighting right now.”

To join the fight against this invisible enemy, Atkin went to the picket line for the WGA strike last month. Atkin and Friedlander explained that many of the issues that writers and actors face in the television and film industries also impact interactive entertainment.

“AI is a general threat to work, and voice actors and writers are work,” Friedlander said. “We’re basically replacing humans with AI and digital technology that can do our work for free, and that doesn’t benefit the voice actors, that doesn’t benefit the writers. It only benefits the upper end of those companies.”

A lack of regulation on AI-generated content

Since the AI ​​threat is relatively new, Atkin said many of the contracts she’s signed throughout her career aren’t current. For example, the contract she signed with Ubisoft for Assassin’s Creed was signed almost a decade ago, long before AI fears were considered. This means that many contracts contain no language addressing permissions for AI content.

As a temporary solution, NAVA has published a Addendum earlier this year for actors to include in their contracts. The document makes the companies agree that voice recording and motion capture performance will not be used for synthetic voice creation or machine learning. But Friedlander said widespread change needed to happen in a more formal capacity.

“Right now there is no contractual protection and it needs to be in our contracts, very specifically to address AI and machine learning to use and for machine learning to train our replacements, to train these synthetic voices that could potentially be used to replace us.”

Friedlander said there is currently no software that can track voices as biometric data. This makes it virtually impossible for an actor to track every instance of AI-generated content featuring their voice. For players like Atkin who have been in the industry for years, this makes the lack of regulation on AI-generated content all the more concerning.

“I’ve done so many games that I’ve lost count, and there’s so much of my voice there that I’ll never be able to keep up with. There’s credits that aren’t even on my IMDb that I I did. It’s just It’s kind of dangerous what they can do with it without my say.”

IGN reached out to Nexus Mods for comment on the matter, but did not hear back in time for publication. When IGN previously contacted Nexus Mods regarding NSFW Skyrim mods, a spokesperson linked to the site’s current policy on AI content, which reads in part, “AI-generated mod content does not is not against our rules, but may be removed if we receive a credible complaint from an affected creator/rights holder.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that while Atkin’s voice has appeared in mods with AI-generated voices, those mods are not pornographic.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over seven years of gaming industry experience with signings at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.