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The Voice Actor Dilemma
Should Voice Actors cash out their voices with AI companies?
Jason Sigmon
February 27, 2025
While most of the world was waiting for the latest release from the Epstein scandal, OpenAI dropped a new model 4.5, but it is not attracting much attention as it is not expected to be a frontier / cutting-edge model.
Many people on X are equally annoyed at using Claude’s new model 3.7 for anything beyond brief demos. In spite of this and in typical fashion, levelsio continues to use it to innovate on his new multiplayer airplane game.
Here’s everything else happening in the world of entertainment and gaming AI
Grok | Voice Actor Struggles
TL;DR: The entire French voice cast of Apex Legends resigned rejecting a contract that would strip them of their voice rights and potentially allow EA and Respawn Entertainment to use AI to replicate their performances without further compensation.
Key Points:
All 32 French voice actors unanimously rejected a new contract and issued a collective refusal letter to the publisher.
Pascale Chemin, the voice of Wraith for nearly six years, publicly criticized the contract on Instagram.
The contract included terms forcing actors to give up all voice rights, with no limits on use, potentially for AI training and generating performances without additional pay.
Entertainment industry lawyers reviewed the terms and deemed them unacceptable.
Why It Matters: This mass resignation is the latest clash between creative talent and companies that want to utilize more AI within enertainment. The French Apex Legends voice cast’s move highlights fears that companies like EA and Respawn could use actors’ performances to build AI systems that replace them, cutting costs while sidelining human talent.
Here in the US, SAG-AFTRA are already striking over similar issues as other gaming giants like Activision face criticism for AI integration. There is a clear dilemma for voice actors at the moment. At what point do you decide to cash out, recognizing that you're unlikely to get the compensation and opportunities that previously existed before AI voice has reached the level that it's at now?
No different than the classic Prisoner's Dilemma. First movers likely benefit the most and can generate the most beneficial rights. The longer someone waits, the less likely there's going to be an opportunity to cash in on using their voice.
It is also hard to see a future where there are going to be many opportunities for new voice actors outside of niche opportunities. This is due to the existing issues of cost re-shoots and edits, that were already plaguing both film and game companies, which AI, in theory, helps address.