Baldur's Gate 3 actors reveal the darker side of success fuelled by AI voice cloning

Larian's Baldur's Gate 3 has been celebrated for the performances of its voice cast, who received several performance nominations for this year's BAFTA awards and which last night won the coveted Best Game award.

However, on the red carpet, the game's actors detailed the darker side of their success thanks to the rise in AI and voice cloning.

Amelia Tyler, who was nominated for best performance for her portrayal of the Baldur's Gate 3 narrator, spoke candidly to Eurogamer about a particularly harrowing stream.

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"People have been recreating my voice off the back of this game in AI without my permission, and several other actors from the game," she said. "Just so everyone is aware, none of us have given permission for that to ever happen. Unless I have signed something saying you're allowed to do that, that is stealing not just my job but my identity.

"I've had some really bad experiences like going into somebody's stream where they've put up text-to-speech and given their chat control of it," she continued. "I went on to this stream because somebody gave me a heads up and I went on and heard my own voice reading rape porn. That's the level of stuff we've had to deal with since this game came out and it's been horrible, honestly."

Tyler added she would love to see players recording their own versions of the narrator's lines - "I absolutely love mods in games," she said - but said "to actually take my voice and use it to train something without my permission, I think that should be illegal".

Andrew Wincott, who won the best supporting performance award for playing Raphael, understood some of the benefits of using AI such as recording for 10 hours to create 40 hours of product. "And I thought that's great," he said, "as long as you pay me for 40!"

Wincott said he "commends" unions such as Equity and SAG-AFTRA for trying to protect the rights of actors against AI, but advised: "If you're going to sign something that means you're signing away the rights to your voice, be very careful and make sure the remuneration is going to be significant because that's your career gone."

Samantha Béart, nominated for her performance as Karlach, said she was "quite disappointed" by SAG-AFTRA's latest deal (as were other actors), adding: "There were a lot of things on the table and it sounds like they threw a lot of less glamorous actors under the bus because they got what they wanted for the more visible actors. We'd like more protection." Tracy Wiles, nominated for her performance as Jaheira, noted contracts were taking longer thanks to the addition of new AI clauses, but this was only due to her own agent stepping in.

Neil Newbon, nominated for his performance as Astarion, said he believes AI shouldn't be used for voice acting because "you don't get the nuance, you don't get the happy accidents, you don't get the interaction between the director and the actor in the same way". He continued: "I know a lot of people in the games industry that would like to work with an actor because of what we bring, the craft we bring. I don't think you can programme craft. It's something beyond zeros and ones, beyond the formula. It's quite magical."

Other actors also spoke on the topic of AI.

David Harewood, who played Warlin Door in Alan Wake 2 and is the new president of drama school RADA, said AI was a concern for everyone involved with performance. "It's a big threat and we have to find a way of making it enhance our profession as opposed to replacing it," he said. "I don't think it will. We are unique individuals and I don't think a computer will ever really replace the quirks of each individual person.

"But I certainly think studios, if they can get away with it, will do their utmost to make as much money as they can for themselves whilst at the same time cutting a lot of people out of the business. We must fight so that never happens."

Final Fantasy 16 actors Ben Starr, who presented an award, and Ralph Ineson, nominated for his performance as Cid, added their concern.

"I think we're unfortunately in a scenario where AI is moving so incredibly quickly, we're seeing advancements in it almost overnight that I don't think any union can properly safeguard from," said Starr. "I hope that it takes us into consideration. I think it's been an afterthought, that's what it feels like. It feels like AI is something that has huge benefits for the video game industry, for the film industry, it's been around for a very long time - but at quite a severe cost."

For Ineson, he recently recorded a dialogue replacement session for a film in which an AI had already been used to replicate his voice - "it sounds like me giving a really bad performance," he said - before he recorded the true version. "It's quite scary that eventually they'll be able to hone it to make it work," he said. "So having seen it in its formative stages, it's pretty frightening to see."

Actors Eurogamer spoke to at last year's BAFTA awards also expressed scepticism against AI. It appears little has changed in sentiment over the last year, despite - in the UK - actors and Equity working together towards better protection against AI.

Baldur's Gate 3 won five awards at last night's BAFTA ceremony, including Best Game, Narrative, Music, the EE Player's Choice award, and Wincott's Performer in a Supporting Role win.