Aloy Actor Ashly Burch Speaks Out About Leaked A.I. Aloy Demo, “I Feel Worried”
Earlier this week, a video leaked revealing that Sony is working on creating A.I. versions of their characters, beginning with Aloy, the protagonist of Guerilla’s Horizon games.
On Friday, Ashly Burch, the actor who plays Aloy, spoke out about the demo, and related her feelings about what this demo signified to her, and what it could mean for the future of the industry.
Burch confirmed that Guerilla had reached out to her and reiterated what was previously stated about the video in the earlier leak, that it used none of the voice data or facial data from Burch’s performance. She also reiterated that Guerilla are the ones, and by extension, Sony, own the character Aloy.
That said, it didn’t do much to quell Burch’s concerns for how AI, specifically generative AI, could be used and abused if not kept in check.
“I feel worried,” she said in the video she posted to her Tik Tok page. “Not worried about Guerilla specifically, or Horizon, or my performance or my career, specifically, even. I feel worried about this art form. Game performance, as an art form.”
“We are currently on strike, SAG-AFTRA is on strike against video games, because of A.I., because this technology exists, because we know game companies want to use it. We’re asking for protections.
So, currently what we’re fighting for is, that you have to get our consent, before you make an A.I. version of us, in any form. You have to compensate us fairly, and you have to tell us how you’re using this A.I. double.
And I feel worried, not because the technology exists. Not even because game companies want to use it, cause of course they want to use it. They do, they always want to use technological advancements. I just imagine a video like this coming out, that does have someone’s performance attached to it, that does have someone’s voice or face, or movement, and the possibility that if we lose this fight, that person will have no recourse.
They wouldn’t have any protections, any way to fight back, and that possibility, it makes me so sad. It hurts my heart, it scares me. I love this industry and this art form so much, and I want there to be a new generation of actors. I want there to be so many more incredible game performances. I want to be able to continue to do this job.
And if we don’t win, then that future is really compromised. And I’m genuinely not trying to put any game company specifically on blast, certainly not Guerilla, because again, the technology isn’t the problem. Game companies wanting to use the technology isn’t the problem.
The problem is that we are currently on strike, and the bargaining group will not agree to give us common sense protections. So, yeah, I mean, I support the strike, I’ve always supported the strike. I believe fighting is what we have to do to protect the future and the longevity of this career that we all love so much.
Luckily there are union contracts that currently exist that give all the protections that we are asking for that any game company can sign right now. There’s the interim, the tiered and the low budget contracts, available right now. For any game company to sign.
So that’s it. I love games, I love game performers, I love game performances so much, and I believe that we deserve to be protected. So I’m going to keep fighting, and if you’re in the games community, then I hope you do too.”
Two days after the tech demo leaked out, SAG-AFTRA published an update on the strike Burch refers to, where video game actors like Burch are fighting for a permanent Interactive Media Agreement that includes the protections against A.I. that they are asking for.
In SAG-AFTRA’s update, the union was clear that video game company’s are trying to push a deal through that allows them to create A.I. versions of an actors performance, without informing the performer, paying them, and doing whatever they want with it.
As Burch puts it, it’s not the fact that the technology exists that’s the issue. The issue is what game company’s are trying to get away with in the current state of negotiations for the IMA, which is why actors like Burch are striking to begin with.
Hopefully SAG-AFTRA is successful in securing a permanent IMA deal that includes the protections performers are asking for. It’ll be interesting to see how much longer the strike goes on, and how much more it begins to impact games currently in development and future projects.
Source – [Ashly Burch on Tik Tok]
