Apex Legends voice actors refuse to sign a contract to help train generative AI

The French Voice Cast for Apex Legends has now refused to sign a contract after it was found that Electronic Arts (EA) can use its voice to train AI. This was revealed by the voice actor behind one of the in-game characters ‘Pascale Chemin’, who informed EA’s plan to use generative AI and how the company is asking them to train something that will replace them.

“The studio sent me (and the 31 other VA in the casting) a mail containing an annex of confidentiality and handover directly from the publisher. I needed to accept these terms before being able to go work,” Chemin said as per translation. “These terms weren't acceptable. I was now forced to give up the role I had been working on for almost 6 years.”

This comes at a time when there is already a huge SAG-AFTRA strike going on across the United States on a similar topic. Generative AI has become a bit problematic in recent days. Companies are aiming to use it to cut costs, however, artists are refusing to let them use their voice to tain something that will potentially send them out of jobs in the future.

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C'est là, c'est maintenant. Les éditeurs de jeu vidéo veulent passer en force. Mais accepter, ce serait renoncer, à court terme, à notre métier, ce serait accepter d'être remplacé par une machine qui ne sera jamais un interprète #touchepasmavf@datirachida@MinistereCCpic.twitter.com/vZGU5gm9zX

— Pascale Chemin (@PascaleChemin) February 26, 2025

French voice actors refuse to sign Apex Legends contract

Chemin acknowledged that alone, she would not have made much of a difference, however, the entire French cast behind Apex Legends has backed her up as the matter is much more serious and will affect everyone if left as it is.

“Without any hesitation, the 31 other VAs all refused to sign this annex. We wrote a collective letter of refusal that we sent to the publisher and are waiting for an answer. If we aren't united now so that a clause that protects our voices can be officially added to our contracts - and not just for us here, but for every video game dubbing studio - we'll never get one and we'll be heading for a disaster,” the statement further added.

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EA remains silent on the whole matter

While all of this takes place, EA has yet to put out a statement addressing this matter. The company has already expressed its interest in AI and plans to integrate it into the workflow as soon as possible. However, many talented people may be affected as companies choose to use generative AI in order to bump the profits a little.