Is that a real voice or is that Artificial Intelligence?
Legendary Voice actors weigh in on AI in voice acting
CHATTANOOGA, TN – If you’re a kid or a parent of a kid from my generation, you know that Saturday morning cartoons with a bowl of chocolate frosted sugar bombs simply couldn’t be beat.
Now as we hear those voices from years ago, it brings back memories of those Saturday mornings from long ago. With Artificial Intelligence being such a hot topic, we have to wonder if that’s really the voice of our childhood or if it’s AI. Chattanooga Comic Con connected us with two legendary voice actors to speak about their experiences and thoughts on AI in voiceover work.
According to Scott Innes, the voice of Scooby Doo, Shaggy and numerous others “It is it’s scary you know? When you go into cracker barrel and you grab a toy and you’re pinching the ear and it’s dancing and it’s and its’ got something that you know it’s been done recently. And you’re like “yeah wow that’s my voice but I didn’t go into the studio and do that.” Then you call your agent and they call and they say they didn’t feel like they owed you because you didn’t do any work for it, they generated that themselves. And you’re like okay that’s stealing but right now there’s no law, there’s no hard-core law so people are getting away with it while they can.”
Rob Paulsen has a slightly different take. Paulsen has been the voice of characters like Pinky from Pinky and the Brain, as well as Yako from Animaniacs and some of your favorite Ninja Turtles. “As far as I’m concerned on Animaniacs Warner Brothers owns Yako. And if they reproduce ‘United states Canada Mexico Panama Haiti Jamaica Peru’… if they reproduce it for other uses then they own it. I know that they’re beholden to give me another session fee and if they lift it per our contract that Warner Brothers and the Screen Actors Guild agree on. But then when AI Comes in, well if Warner Brothers owns the voice and the character and you’ve been paid to do that and if they want to create something new with a character that they own including the voice. What are those parameters? So, it is a brave new world.”
Obviously, the best example is James Earl Jones signing over the rights to his voice to be Darth Vader. I can’t imagine watching a Star Wars movie and hearing a different voice, but all parties were involved and before he passed away James Earl Jones was compensated for his voice. It will definitely be interesting to see what we let AI take over next – like none of us saw the 1999 Warner Brothers Movie The Matrix and don’t know how that ends.
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