In the Fall of 1984, the film The Terminator was released in theaters worldwide, seeing critical and financial success. The movie's beginning showed a bleak future where robots have taken over the world and are at war with the last bandit of humanity. In 1984, this was seen as pure science fiction, yet nearly 40 years to the present it has become a reality everyone is facing. Actors in Hollywood would strike against the major studios thanks to the fearful potential that AI has with its imitation of creating.

However, what other concerns do actors have regarding AI? Cissy Jones provides another example during her interview with Screen Rant’s Caitlin Tyrrell. “What we are personally asking for within the strike is number one active consent,” Cissy explains. “…if someone is going to make a digital version of our faces, our voices, if they’re going to take your writing and put it into a machine learning process, you need to be actively informed.” Consent is still difficult for companies to ask for as it requires resources and money to ensure an actor’s performance is protected and compensated.

The safety of work, especially an actor’s voice, is crucial when people have the freedom to possibly deface someone’s image. All it takes is to take a clip from a show, import it to a voice AI site, and have it say a series of offense claims. The frustrating part about this is that there have been people who tried to fight back against it and faced harassment. One such event occurred with prominent voice actress Erica Lindbeck.

Erica Lindbeck expressed concern on Twitter about an AI-generated video of her performance of Persona 5’s Futaba singing a song with controversial topics. The quality of the voice was nearly identical to her performance, it could have gotten her in trouble with Atlus, the owner of Persona 5. However, Erica was attacked and harassed by several people on Twitter, causing her to briefly leave before returning with support from other actors.

AI will become increasingly dystopian as people continue to train these programs to mimic actor’s performances. Although it could be fun to experiment with these tools from time to time, I believe we need to take a stance against using them as a replacement. Art is a human element that cannot be replicated easily with machinery. Only we can create and not have those who try everything in their willpower find ways to replace that. Protect the art of acting that we admire and stand against those who don’t respect it.

Works Cited
Tu, Trumann. “Persona 5 Actor Leaves Twitter.” Game Rant, 8 July 2023, https://gamerant.com/persona-5-futaba-actor-erica-lindbeck-leaves-twitter/. Accessed 23 January 2024.
Tyrrell, Caitlin. “Voice Actor Cissy Jones On AI In Entertainment & Protecting Performers’ Livelihoods.” Screen Rant, 4 August 2023, https://screenrant.com/sag-aftra-cissy-jones-nava-ai-interview/. Accessed 22 January 2024.

Works Cited
Tu, Trumann. “Persona 5 Actor Leaves Twitter.” Game Rant, 8 July 2023, https://gamerant.com/persona-5-futaba-actor-erica-lindbeck-leaves-twitter/. Accessed 23 January 2024.
Tyrrell, Caitlin. “Voice Actor Cissy Jones On AI In Entertainment & Protecting Performers’ Livelihoods.” Screen Rant, 4 August 2023, https://screenrant.com/sag-aftra-cissy-jones-nava-ai-interview/. Accessed 22 January 2024.