'I feel worried' - Voice actor speaks on PlayStation’s AI Aloy

A clip showcasing ‘Aloy’ from Horizon games in a demo for PlayStation’s AI companion recently went viral. The video also made it to ‘Ashly Burch’, who voices the character in the game. PlayStation reportedly contacted her regarding the demo clarifying that her data wasn’t used, however, Burch has raised some concerns regarding the tech.

“I feel worried, not because the technology exists, not even because game companies want to use it, because of course they do, they always want to use technological advancements, I just imagine a video like this coming out that does have someone’s performance attached to it,” Burch said in a recent TikTok video regarding the AI companion.

“That does have someone’s voice, or face, or movement, and the possibility that if we lose this fight, that person would have no recourse. They wouldn’t have any protections, any way to fight back, and that possibility... it makes me so sad. It hurts my heart, it scares me. I love this industry and this art form so much and I want there to be a new generation of actors,” she added.

Gamers and Talents pushing back against AI

This statement comes during the ongoing SAG-AFTRA video game strike which has been going on since last year touching on the same topic. Burch had spoken on the matter previously and the voice actors are already worried about companies using their voices to train AI with their likeness which can be used without their consent or compensation.

The clip for AI companion was also laughed off by gamers were amazed to see Sony using a game about fighting against AI as an example to showcase their AI companion. Most recently, Microsoft also announced Copilot AI for the Xbox console which will help gamers get good, although it's a bit different. For now, Xbox seems to be going with text-based responses rather than voiced ones.

Also Read: PlayStation announces plans to celebrate God of War's 20th anniversary

How long has the SAG-AFTRA video game strike been going on?

The SAG-AFTRA video game strike started back in July 2024 and is still ongoing with the union working to negotiate the safety of voice actors for AI. Union’s chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree, recently gave an update on the situation revealing there are still multiple loopholes that can be used to train AI with past work from the actors so the strike will continue.