SAN DIEGO: “Pandora’s Box is open” when it comes to artificial intelligence, voice actors behind some of the world’s most popular animations and video games warned at this week’s Comic-Con event.

North America’s largest pop culture gathering is taking place during a major Hollywood strike, partly driven by actors and writers’ concerns about the encroachment of AI into art.

Voice actors are on the frontlines of the debate, with technology now readily available allowing users to clone somebody’s voice and have it read new dialogue — often without their permission or payment.

Tim Friedlander, founder of the National Association of Voice Actors, shared a recent example of a voice actor who had worked for a company for three years, but abruptly lost their work.

“They said ‘we have three years of your voice — we’re just going to create an AI synthetic voice out what we already have,’” Friedlander told press ahead of Saturday’s panel. The danger does not just come from studios. The last few years have seen a sharp rise in fans using AI “deepfake mods” to clone famous voices and have them read new material, often pornographic in nature.

“I have children. There are things I don’t want my voice to say and have my children hear and question if that is something that I have actually said,” said Cissy Jones, of animated TV series “The Owl House.” Zeke Alton, whose voice recently appeared in video game “The Calisto Protocol,” said voice actors were not trying to ban AI altogether. “Let’s be clear — Pandora’s box is open,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 23th, 2023