AI Used to Resurrect Video Game Voice Actor in Cyberpunk 2077 Universe

 Posted on July 22, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  739 words  |  Martina Birk

The Polish video game developer CD Projekt SA has used artificial intelligence to replicate the voice of the late Polish actor Miłogost Reczek, who died in 2021. His voice will be simulated in “Phantom Liberty,” an extension of the dystopian video game series “Cyberpunk 2077.”

Per Bloomberg, the company reached out to Reczek’s family, which gave permission to recreate his voice using AI. CD Projekt contemplated finding a replacement for the late actor and re-recording his original lines, but ultimately chose to keep him involved in the franchise.

“We didn’t like this approach,” CD Projekt localization director Mikołaj Szwed about using a new actor. Szwed referred to him as “one of the best Polish voice talents” and praised his performance in the video game as “stellar.”

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The process of using AI to replicate Reczek’s voice involved hiring another actor to record his character’s lines, then using a Ukrainian voice-cloning software called Respeecher. This software made an algorithm changing the new actor’s voice to sound like Reczek.

Szwed noted that Reczek’s sons “were very supportive.”

The use of artificial intelligence remains a hotly debated topic in Hollywood, as industry workers worry if their talent will be replaced by technology, while others predict AI will only enhance what Hollywood creatives are capable of.

Following the resolution of the WGA strike, SAG-AFTRA reached a standstill with the AMPTP in their negotiations, with the use of AI being one issue that continues to divide the two groups.

For some actors, AI raises questions about autonomy. The National Association of Voice Actors Tim Friedlander said at Comic Con in July, “As a human voice actor, I can walk into a room and get a script that says something that I didn’t either agree to say or something that I would never say, I personally have that ability to walk out of that room,” Friedlander said. With AI cloning the voices of actors, however, “We’ve lost control over what our voice could possibly say.”

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