The man behind Master Chief feels a way about generative AI when it comes to his voice being used for any ‚Halo‘ fan project or video.<\/b>
\nSteve Downes, the longtime voice actor of Halo protagonist Master Chief, has called on fans not to use generative AI to replicate his voice.
In a YouTube AMA, Downes admitted that he\u2019s seen videos online where his voice has been recreated using the controversial technology. While he generally considers voice cloning to be \u201charmless,\u201d he acknowledged that it could easily backslide and \u201cdeprive an actor of [their] work.\u201d
As such, he would prefer \u201cit not be done [to me]. There\u2019s a lot of fan projects that are really cool and done just from the heart. But when you get to the AI part and deceiving somebody that these are lines I actually spoke\u2026that\u2019s where we cross a line that gets into an area I\u2019m uncomfortable with.\u201d
Recent years have seen voice actors express concern about the use of generative AI in VO. Last year, a leaked Sony test demo featured a test bot that had the voice of Aloy, the lead of the Horizon games, that was made with genAI. Aloy\u2019s actor Ashly Burch then released a video saying she\u2019d been informed that the Aloy bot was purely for demonstrative purposes and wasn\u2019t made using her face or voice data. Even so, she said she was \u201cworried\u201d about the art form of game performances and how this technology could affect voice actors below her.
Halo is owned by Xbox, whose parent company Microsoft has been gradually going all-in on generative AI in its production pipeline and products. It\u2019s partnered with generative AI companies to create tools meant to assist with facets of game development, which has garnered criticism among developers and players. It\u2019s been murky whether the upcoming Halo: Campaign Evolved was made with genAI: last year, an insider alleged it was, but Halo Studios has been somewhat evasive, instead saying there was no requirement to use technology some of its staff consider \u201ca tool in a toolbox.\u201d<\/p>\n