Voice actor Troy Baker has partnered with a company that looks to sell AI-created “voice NFTs”, which has drawn criticism for creating NFTs and developing technology that’s seen as harmful to the voice talent industry.
Earlier today (January 14), Baker announced that he was partnering with Voiceverse, which will use AI to provide the “world’s first voice NFTs”.
Within several hours of making the announcement, Baker received significant backlash for supporting the company.
Much of the backlash centres around the fact that Voiceverse creates its voice NFTs with “unique, next-generation AI”. Many feel that because of this Baker is directly supporting something that is harmful to the voice talent industry, as there are worries that using AI to create voices will eventually cause job losses.
A tweet from Voiceverse says that users will be able to use their “favourite voice” to make things like audiobooks, videos and podcasts “without the hassle of additional legal work”.
I’m partnering with @VoiceverseNFT to explore ways where together we might bring new tools to new creators to make new things, and allow everyone a chance to own & invest in the IP’s they create.
We all have a story to tell.
You can hate.
Or you can create.
What’ll it be? pic.twitter.com/cfDGi4q0AZ— Troy Baker (@TroyBakerVA) January 14, 2022
“There’s so much to hate about it,” said one reply, which goes on to accuse Baker of “supporting AI voice acting tech that aims to completely wipe out the careers of many of your peers.”
Another asked if Baker had researched Voiceverse, adding that the company seems to be “powered by tech that is designed to automate your job and make you redundant”.
Others voice opposition to NFTs in general and highlight the negative environmental impact associated with them. One reply says “you inspired me to get into voice acting, and I can’t believe you’d just dive into this sort of project knowing the kind of damage it’s going to be doing to our Earth. You aren’t creating, you’re destroying.”
In other news, Crytek has apologised for shutting down a photo mod for Crysis, but has stood its ground . The creator of the photo mod has said that if he has to remove the paywall from his mod, he will remove the project entirely to avoid giving Crytek free publicity.
