Apex Legends's French voice actors refuse to sign generative AI agreement

by Danny Craig  · 
Apex Legends's French voice actors refuse to sign generative AI agreement
Electronic Arts

The French-speaking cast of Apex Legends have put their jobs at risk by refusing to sign an agreement allowing generative AI to be trained using their voices.

The details:

  • In a post to Instagram (translation via ResetEra), Wraith’s French voice actor Pascale Chemin shared that an unnamed publisher had forced actors to sign an agreement granting full permission to train generative AI systems using their acting work in order to continue working. While Apex was not specifically mentioned, Chemin did tag the entire French cast of the game in the post.

  • Chemin then confirmed that the entire cast had refused to sign the agreement by sending EA a “collective letter of refusal” which has yet to receive a response. The actor went on to say that, while refusing work is "nonsensical," they were asked to accept AI rather than fight against it in order to keep their jobs. The group is currently attempting to protect their voices by proposing a new clause in their contracts.

  • For years, there has been an ongoing debate about the ethics of using generative AI, with actors' union SAG-AFTRA striking over its use in media and Embark Studios facing criticism for using AI announcers in The Rivals. EA CEO Andrew Wilson previously stated that AI is the "very core" of the company, with games like The Sims 4 set to receive AI-powered features.

  • Many of the issues surrounding the use of AI stem from the technology being trained on human-made content without permission, while also taking jobs away from creatives. Gaming is not the only industry being impacted; 1,000 UK-based musicians recently released a silent album protesting a government proposal to change copyright laws, which would allow AI to be trained on copyrighted works without approval.

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