this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
304 points (98.4% liked)
Technology
59143 readers
2313 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It's a thorny issue. In the position of an indie dev/studio i get using cheap (or free) art, be it voice, textures, whatever. In a way a properly licensed ai trained voice is no different from using assets from an asset store.
On the other hand, the current crop of ai are less than fair about where they source the data, so good luck getting a morally neutral voice right now, leaving aside the legal aspect.
A big issue beyond that is how it'll completely wreck the industry. If Alice licensed her voice for cheap, and I can get it to say whatever I need with minimal hassle why wouldn't I use that over paying more for a voice actor, where I have to wait on them to actually record and rerecord her lines? I'd be paying more for slower results and more work.
Then you realize this is true not just for me but for most groups needing voice lines. This means that even if an individual voice seems ethically sound, considering the wider context and impact on other voice actors it becomes far less simple.
It is.
Personally, I'm not against it. Acting means by default imitating something. Pretending you are something you are not. If AI can do it as well or better than actors, I'm okay with that.
Maybe we're at a stage where the voice actors of tomorrow will be simply those who can configure the AI to output the voice most fitting the role, rather than those who can reproduce it with their own vocal chords. They're different skillets - I see no reason why one should be more important and worth saving than the other.
This is progress. The only bad thing about progress is that it won't benefit the many, but the few that can capitalize on it. This, I do regret. But on the other hand - I'm sure all the horse ranchers were very much against cars when they first appeared, and not for environmental reasons, but for more selfish ones. And while it might've been sad for so many of them to have to start working in a different field, it's also undeniable that cars have made a huge economic impact on the world and that living conditions as a whole have improved since their invention.
Idk. It's a whole thing. I really hope these people can find a way to ride the wave. Because right now it looks like they'll just be crushed by it instead, and I for one can't justify impeding progress for the love of the few people stuck in the past.