An unlicensed AI chatbot for the character of Michael De Santa from Grand Theft Auto 5 has been taken down following complaints from Ned Luke, Michael’s official voice actor.
According to PCGamesN, the chatbot in question was created by tech company WAME and clearly made use of Luke’s voice without his permission. Luke drew attention to the issue on Jan. 14 in an understandably angry X (formerly Twitter) post, calling the whole scenario “f***ing bullshit.”
“Absolutely nothing cool about ripping people off with some lame computer estimation of my voice,” Luke wrote. “Don’t waste your time on this garbage.” He also tagged GTA developer Rockstar Games, the SAG-AFTRA union, and fellow voice actor Roger Clark (Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2), no doubt to raise awareness.
At some point on Jan. 15, WAME not only took down the chatbot, but also deleted any and all X posts promoting the thing. Its official account replied to Luke with an apology, saying: “As a fan of GTA, my intention was to implement interactions with GTA game characters using AI, without any commercial motives.” Even if WAME didn’t plan to make money off the chatbot, that obviously doesn’t make it okay to replicate Luke’s voice without his consent.
A second statement provided to PCGamesN explained the chatbot had been taken down “in light of the recent controversy.” The statement went on to say the incident “highlighted the intricate interplay between the advancement of AI technology and the ethical and legal realms.”
This sadly isn’t an isolated incident. Many voice actors have expressed concerns over their voices being replicated with AI without their permission, and there are fears of actors being replaced with AI altogether. Recently, SAG-AFTRA signed off on allowing AI replicas of actors’ voices to be made, which naturally saw a lot of backlash from the union’s members.
In a reply to Roger Clark, Luke himself admitted he’s not too worried about being replaced, but he is mad that “our shitty union is so damn weak” and instances like the one he had with WAME will “soon be an issue on legit work, not just some lame douchebag tryna [sic] make $$ off of our voices.”
AI, in general, is on the path to becoming more and more integrated with game development, be it through voice acting, writing, or art. Whereas companies like Square Enix are very interested in the technology, it’s proving unpopular with almost everybody else. Wizards of the Coast’s use of AI art for Magic: The Gathering has prompted actual artists to refuse to continue working with the company.
