Earlier this week, images of an AI-driven character prototype created by Sony and inspired by Horizon Zero Dawn’s Aloy surfaced online. The gaming community was immediately vocal about the entire project, and now Ashly Burch, the voice actor behind Aloy’s original portrayal, has shared her thoughts.
“I viewed the tech demonstration earlier this week,” Burch stated in an Instagram clip. “Guerrilla contacted me to clarify that the demonstration did not represent anything that was genuinely in progress. They did not utilize any of my performance for the demonstration, so none of my facial or vocal data was used.”
Nonetheless, still, “I feel uneasy,” Burch expresses. “Not because of Guerrilla in particular, or Horizon, or my work, or my career specifically, even. I feel uneasy about this art form. Game performance as a means of expression.”
Burch is part of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes against the gaming industry, and a central aspect of these strikes is the demand for enhanced protections against the unauthorized application of actors’ performances through generative AI. “What we’re advocating for is that you must obtain our approval before creating an AI version of us in any capacity,” Burch clarifies. “You need to compensate us fairly, and you must inform us how you’re deploying this AI representation.”
The actor previously took part in the SAG-AFTRA gaming strike of 2016-2017, which saw the union demanding residual payments and increased transparency regarding the roles actors were being cast for. Notably, the strike prevented Burch from reprising her role as Chloe in Life Is Strange: Before the Storm until the game’s DLC bonus episode.
The state of negotiations in the current strike has led the union to reject gaming industry proposals that are “still rife with troubling loopholes that could leave our members susceptible to AI exploitation.” Individuals like Resident Evil and Witcher 3 mocap director Steve Kniebihly remains confident that AI won’t replace real actors “anytime soon,” but these concerns are a significant reason for the continuation of the strike.
“I feel uneasy not due to the existence of the technology, [and] not even because game companies wish to utilize it, because certainly they do – they always seek to leverage technological innovations,” Burch mentions. “I just imagine a video like this being released that does include someone’s performance attached to it – which encompasses someone’s voice or face or movement – and the fear that if we lose this battle, that people…