Electronic Arts admits to using AI voices in NHL 27: 'This process allows us to bring more variety to the game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/electronic-arts-admits-to-using-ai-voices-in-nhl-27-this-process-allows-us-to-bring-more-variety-to-the-game/Open linkView original on lemmy.today
14 replies
No, it lets them not pay for talent. They could easily add variety by hiring voice actors.
And from what I hear it still repeats lines that have little to no context with what’s actually on screen. Such a joke
But that one commentator got paid the same and did less work, so the drop in quality is fine!
I wonder if he will get paid at all next year...
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So they’re not just having the AI mimic his voice, but even create the dialog? That sounds really lazy
Isn't that the whole point of the generative aspect in this case? To be able to add more varied commentary that's a little bit more specific to the play, rather than just generic, bland, recorded commentary that has to fit generic situations?
I wouldn't say it's lazy in this case, unless I misunderstand what you mean.
Plugging in a chatbot to commentate is absolutely less labour intensive than actually writing and recording dialogue lines and hooking them up to contextual situations. If it is getting things wrong, as he states in the interview, it's lazy on multiple levels.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the difference of doing more work versus doing less work. But to achieve the same level of variety that an AI generator can using manually pre-recorded dialogue would be an incredible feat, and take up an insane amount of space on your game installation medium. That seems like unnecessary work.
I see this as an acceptable use of generative AI. And I'm normally very much against AI.
EA games have been off the menu for a very long time now anyway.
EA Sports: Challenge everything
There should be a law
I'm critical of many applications of AI but let's be real, sports video game commentary is a perfect application for it. It's not high art, nor does it need to be particularly insightful. The more dynamic the commentary, the more immersive the game.
Its early stages so they probably are just generating equivalent snippets, both dialogue and the voice, but it wouldn't take long for this to evolve to something that just generates the commentary on the fly, specific to the game you're playing.
They don't say anything more accurate or relevant to the game.
The more dynamic commentary can easily come from hiring more voice actors.