CD Projekt RED Uses AI to Replace Deceased Voice Actor in Cyberpunk 2077 Expansion

Jason Schreier in the agency article Bloomberg writes that Polish studio CD Projekt RED used artificial intelligence to record the voice of a recently deceased actor for the Phantom Liberty expansion. Miłogost Reczek in Polish Cyberpunk 2077 voiced the character of Viktor Vector, but died in 2021. AI helped bring his voice to life. But it was no guerilla action. The late actor’s family has given the go-ahead to the developers for this step.

The CD Projekt project first decided whether to recast the role and possibly re-record the dubbing and the original game so that the character sounded the same throughout the story. But the head of localization Mikołaj Szwed told Bloomberg that they did not like this approach, because Miłogost Reczek was supposed to be one of the best Polish dubbers and the developers were very satisfied with his performance.

So instead, the team got another actor to record new lines, and then the writers used Respeecher software to change the voice to sound like Reczek’s. Before implementing the plan, the developers had the idea approved by the family. The actor’s son was to greatly support them in this endeavour.

Magazine VGC to this he adds that AI has recently posed a certain threat to actors. At least some of them fear that companies will be able to imitate their voices without asking the actors and dubbers for their consent. In the recent past, for example, Victoria Atkin, who lent her voice to the character of Evie Frye in Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, mentioned it. She let it be known that Ubisoft may seek to replicate her voice without her involvement and consent.

2023-10-13 09:52:12
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