AI has brought a huge revolution into recent technology. There are some people happy with it since it does the job easily for them, while others are scared since it’s taking away their job, and the most crucial are voice actors,
You may have heard of the voice being used by famous musicians through AI. Like the recent famous AI-generated music of Drake and Weeknd, which went viral quickly, and it was quite good, too.
The same we have today since there is AI software where people can select any voice of their favorite anime character by just typing the sentence or converting their voice into the character’s voice.
The results are quite accurate, to be honest, which is quite scary for the voice actors since it affects their jobs, which may be replaced by AI in the future. In a recent interview, Yuki Kaji, a.k.a. the voice actor of Eren Yeager, expressed his frustration with this matter.
So, in this article, we will be taking a look at Yuki Kaji’s thoughts on AI and how it would affect his job in the future. We will also discuss factors that can be crucial to this matter and also useful at the same time.
Eren Yeager Voice Actor Thoughts on Ai Replacing his Job
In the recent interview, which was on NHK’s Close-Up Gendai, the title being, “This is real” Sweeping the world” Generated AI Content. This interview took place on December 12, 2023, and featured Eren Yeager’s voice actor, Yuki Kaji.
They discussed the topic of voice actor views on AI-generated content. In that interview, Yuki Kaji showed his frustration and concern for the latest AI technology, which is going to eat up everyone’s job in the future.
He didn’t like the idea of his voice being used without his permission. As a voice actor, they put their soul and heart into the character’s voice, so if this continues, it will ruin their pride and confidence.
Yuki Kaji thinks that their voice should be protected by law so that such crises won’t affect their work. He said that the voice actor not only gives their voice but they also do it with determination and responsibility to breathe life and soul into them.
So, as a voice actor, it is really frustrating to see his voice being traced, recreated, and produced in different forms. This could destroy their pride and what they have built together,
Well, that’s what he said in his recent interview on NHK (Japanese news channel). He just seemed kind of frustrated by the fact that his voice is now being used without his permission or for various reasons.
今、生成AIで作られたコンテンツが世界を席巻。一方でAIに好きな声優の声を学習させ、勝手に歌わせる動画が氾濫するなどのトラブルも。
人気声優の #梶裕貴 さんが複雑な思いを吐露しました。
詳しくは、12(火)夜7:30の #クロ現 で放送します。同時&見逃し配信は👇https://t.co/HDTvEsTxEN pic.twitter.com/f6lCBrypdv
— NHKクローズアップ現代 公式 (@nhk_kurogen) December 11, 2023
My Thoughts on This Matter
Well, we won’t understand how he feels until we get into his shoes. Like for example, there are many AI tools that write articles. However, we can easily tell if the article is AI-generated or human-written just by reading it, and the same thing goes for voice changer AI,
The thing that differentiates between AI and Humans right now is “feelings.” In a generated article, you won’t get that vibe that you get in a human-written article. It would only contain information without any taste in it. That’s why AI-generated article is not allowed and gets blacklisted by Google.
The same goes for Voice Actors. The voice generated through an AI voice changer doesn’t have the feeling or vibe that we get from the real voice. Like, ask an AI voice changer to say, “Bankai! Senbonzakura Kageyoshi,” and see the difference between AI-generated voice and real voice.
However, this has only been reassuring till now. Once the AI starts getting new updates and features, there is a chance that it will mimic almost everything. From voice to feelings to vibe, that would be very dangerous for the voice actors, as it will affect their job, as it might get replaced by AI.
How AI Can Be a Good Sign for Voice Acting
The best thing that can come out of this is when a voice actor is near his death. I don’t want to go down that road, but it’s a fact, so I think I should cover it. For example, the voice actors of Luffy and Goku are getting quite old, and there might not be anyone who could replace them.
So if AI starts developing feelings along with voice, it can be a good sign for the fans, as most of them wouldn’t notice the change. There are always two sides to everything, good and bad, and it always depends on how we use it.
