In his recent interview with IGN, Doug Cockle voiced some serious concerns about the dangers of AI voice acting in the field of video game. The crux of the issue lies in the fact that the advancement of technology made it very simple for people to copy someone's voice, and to use it in any way they see fit.
This means anything from harmless memes, to misinformation or offensive statements, which Cockle points out as particularly dangerous, as people these days have a stronger association between character voice and the person behind it.
However, it's not all doom and gloom. Cockle himself goes on to clarify that the intent matters more than the tool that's used in carrying out that intent. For example, while modders occasionally utilize AI voice acting, they're doing it to make the best possible mod they can because they love their game. It's still a contentious topic and an ethical line needs to be drawn somewhere, but modding efforts are far removed from people who want to utilize AI maliciously.
He also spoke with various AI companies, including Morpheme.ai led by voice actor Cissy Jones, and they're all moving towards embracing AI but underlining that voice actors need to have more control over their digitized voices.
Until a solution is found, it will likely remain a contentious topic, as even things that are seen as relatively ethical, still have possible negative repercussions. For example, there is a controversy surrounding the use of AI voice acting in The Finals, a new F2P FPS from the ex-developers of Battlefield. With the permission of voice actors, they used their voices to have dynamic AI commentary in the game. Everything is consentual and everyone gets paid, so what's the catch?
Well, seasoned voice actor Gianni Matragrano who you might know from Ultrakill, Gloomwood, Heroes of Newerth, or countless other games, has pointed out some of the issue with the reasoning that developers used for utilizing AI voice acting.