The fears of many voice actors are starting to come true: artificial intelligence (AI) is taking over some of their jobs. Companies are changing contracts, actors are getting emails saying their services won’t be needed soon, and some have already been replaced by a robotic voice.
Digital news kiosk Blendle is one of the companies where hiring voice actors has experienced uncertainty in recent weeks. According to an internal email obtained by NOS, players were told earlier this month that they no longer wanted to use human voices starting January 1.
French parent company Cafeyn cites a misunderstanding. “We are testing the text-to-speech model. “If the results are good, we will stop using the human voice,” a spokesperson admits. “But nothing is finalized yet. “Nothing has been decided before January 1 or any other date.”
Audiobook company Storytel is also experimenting with AI voices that read books out loud. “Such topics are discussed every day in our practice groups,” says voice actor Machteld van der Gaag. “It is not possible to ban. “We now need to look at how we can ensure that our conditions remain as good as possible.”
unions
A group of voice actors concerned about artificial intelligence founded the voice-over association Nedvo this year. It currently has around 120 members.
They also work with the cultural workers’ and artists’ union Kunstenbond to protect their work. “Artificial intelligence is now playing a role in many creative professions, but voice actors are really in the wind,” says Caspar de Kiefte from Kunstenbond. “Early results from the member survey show that 96 percent of voice actors fear AI will lead to job losses.”
De Kiefte wants to talk to companies like Blendle that are considering replacing humans with artificial intelligence. “We also want to call out to them about their responsibilities. “These are self-employed people who suddenly lose part of their income without transition allowance or retraining allowance.”
Voice actor Jeroen Kramer has already experienced what it’s like to be replaced by an AI voice. He recorded twelve chapters of The Magician’s Ring book series for an American publisher. “In the thirteenth book, I was replaced by the Flemish robot voice,” says Kramer. “You can’t listen.”
The audience was thinking the same thing. 1-star reviews are pouring in for the thirteenth episode. “I then called the publisher to find out why they were doing this. “It was mainly a matter of money.”
weird accent
“Dutch AI voices are not yet good enough for longer projects like audiobooks,” says Van der Gaag, who cloned his own voice to see how far the technology had advanced. “It still has all kinds of weird accents in it, and it’s still very flat.”
But Van der Gaag says there are very good AI voices in English. Storytel already uses English artificial intelligence voices in its own productions. For example, the AI voice Henry is reading Hansel and Gretel in English, and the AI voice Daniel is reading the science fiction novel Black Star. AI voices in Danish, Swedish, and then other languages will be added before the end of the year.
A paragraph in Storytel’s new contracts for Dutch readers seems to indicate that the company also wants to use their voices to create Dutch artistic voices.
It is stated that the company has the right to “reproduce and extract” the recordings of the voice actors. Voice actors NOS spoke to criticize this. “I’m very worried,” said one person who wished to remain anonymous. “But if I don’t sign, I won’t get the job. And I can’t make out that paragraph.
However, the Art Association thinks otherwise. “We would like to discuss with Storytel whether such a provision could be passed for all Dutch voters.”
Storytel: Artificial intelligence is complementary
“We will not clone narrators’ voices without separate dialogue and consent,” a Storytel spokesperson said in an emailed response. According to the spokesperson, the paragraph is also necessary for other technologies “such as improving search functionality and suggestions, and switching between narration and reading aloud.”
Storytel also says that AI voices do not replace the human narrator. “This is an addition. Users can choose between the narrator and additional synthetic voices according to their preferences.”
Source: NOS
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
