The entire French cast of multiplayer shooter Apex Legends has refused to sign an agreement that would allow their voices to train generative AI, risking their jobs in the process.
Pascale Chemin, the voice of Wraith, shared a statement on social media (translated on ResetEra) detailing the situation, and while Apex isn’t directly mentioned, the other voice actors from the game are all tagged accordingly.
In the post, Chemin explained how the cast received an annex to their agreement directly from the publisher (presumably EA), which needed to be accepted before work could continue. This concerned training generative AI.
“These terms weren’t acceptable,” wrote Chemin. “I was now forced to give up the role I had been working on for almost six years. In no way could I force the rest of the casting members to do the same, but one thing was certain: if we all refused, it could maybe have an impact. Otherwise, it would have been in vain.”
The whole cast unanimously rejected the agreement. “We wrote a collective letter of refusal that we sent to the publisher and are waiting for an answer,” said Chemin. “If we aren’t united now so that a clause that protects our voices can be officially added in 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.”
Chemin described refusing to work as “nonsensical” when there is so little available and many actors are struggling for money.
“But we aren’t simply asked to work,” she continued. “We are asked to give up our expertise to train the generative AI that will replace us tomorrow. We are asked to agree to what we specifically fight against. We are asked to shoot ourselves in the foot. We are asked to support AI.”
Eurogamer has contacted EA for a response.
The use of generative AI is growing rapidly throughout the industry in all sorts of areas. EA in particular has over a hundred AI projects to assist development, with CEO Andrew Wilson stating last year AI is “the very core of our business”.
One example of this shown was a forthcoming hub coming to The Sims that will include AI-powered discovery through photo-based searching, or the ability to create Sims based on a photo.
Yet the use of generative AI in voice acting specifically is of huge concern to the acting community. It’s the key reason US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July last year, predominantly due to a dispute over the exploitative use of AI.
Chemin’s post is a prime example of this AI use, which many actors believe is not suitably safeguarded against.
Jennifer Hale (Mass Effect, Bayonetta 3) spoke with Eurogamer earlier this year to explain why the SAG-AFTRA strike remains ongoing.
“It’s a huge issue for all of us and the repercussions are vast,” she said. “So to me, it makes sense that everyone needs to take their time. As performers – and we saw this in the writers strike and the theatrical contract strike – we’re just the canary in the coal mine.
“The producers who actually do the work with us, they want to get back to work and they are open to having really productive conversations. I think the people in the room who are representing a more large-scale corporate interest, their priority is profit protection in the future, which means leaving all the options open. But what I’m not sure they understand is that leaving those options open leaves performers in great jeopardy.”
