Are AI Voice-Overs The Future of Gaming Or The End Of Human Voice Actors? 'The Finals' First-Person-Shooter Blasted for Robotic-Sounding AI Voicework

An anticipated game is garnering negative reviews for its use of artificial intelligence (AI) voice-overs. 

"The Finals," an in-production first-person-shooter (FPS) game in open testing, is using AI for its voicework. This is a controversial decision because some people believe that AI voicework is not yet good enough to replace human voice actors, and human voices are integral to a quality game's storyline and player engagement. 

The game will launch on various platforms including Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.

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There's significant backlash over the AI voiceover work in "The Finals," with many early users noting the voices sound robotic and have unnatural breathing patterns and cadences. Despite the generally negative reviews, AI voicework is likely to become a standard part of game production. It provides significant cost savings for developers and makes it easier to build large casts of characters. 

AI voicework has potential as a valuable tool for game developers, but there is concern that the technology could replace human voice actors. Critics contend it needs to improve and better replicate human voices to avoid negatively impacting game quality and artistic vision. AI voicework is still in its early stages of development and will most certainly get better as AI tools such as ChatGPT learn and improve over time.

In an interview with gaming publication IGN, a spokesperson for "The Finals" from Embark Studios discussed the use of AI voiceovers, saying, "Making games without actors isn't an end goal. We use a combination of recorded voice audio and audio generated via TTS tools in our games, depending on the context." 

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TTS means "text-to-speech" and in this case represents AI-powered tools that can turn provided (or AI-generated) text into spoken words from a variety of virtual actors/personas. 

"The Finals" places players in a televised virtual combat environment structured within a game show. It features holographic-created crowds and commentary from virtual hosts who provide information about a team of players and updates on the game. Embark Studios noted in the past inspiration for the game came from popular movies, including "The Hunger Games" and "Gladiator."

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The spokesperson from Embark Studios provided additional information to IGN about how the studio decides when to use human or AI voicework, saying, "Sometimes, recording real scenes where actors get together — allowing character chemistry and conflict to shape the outcome — is something that adds depth to our game worlds that technology can't emulate. Other times, especially when it relates to contextual in-game action call-outs, TTS allows us to have tailored voiceover where we otherwise wouldn’t, for example, due to speed of implementation.”
The negative reviews of "The Finals” AI voicework are part of a broader discussion about AI likenesses and voices used in creative content. For example, Hollywood studios and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) labor union continue to discuss the studios' plans for using actor's likenesses with AI.

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