Horizon and The Last of Us 2 star says there's a risk game devs will say "let's just have AI" do voices for NPCs and minor characters: "We're gonna be losing out on our next generation of great performers"

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Aloy actor Ashly Burch says "I am afraid of some developers trying to use AI to replace performers in roles that I cut my teeth on coming up"

Horizon Forbidden West
(Image credit: Sony)

Ashly Burch, a prolific actor known for roles like Aloy in the Horizon games, Mel in The Last of Us 2, and Chloe Price in the Life is Strange series, is worried about AI displacement in the gaming industry, and in particular the idea of AI replacing human actors in lesser roles like NPCs and minor characters.

In a new episode of Ginx TV's The Games That Made Me series, Burch broaches the harrowing topic of the rapidly increasing presence of AI in video games, and she has a personal perspective on why that's particularly daunting for young actors trying to break into the scene.

"I do think there is a risk of NPCs in those worlds or, you know, characters that are in multiplayer games that do callouts. Like, things that are maybe less sessions and maybe are not as narratively heavy," Burch said. "I could conceive of a world in which a dev might be like, 'yeah, let's just have AI do that…' if you cut away so many of these roles that younger performers need to cut their teeth and get their experience, we're gonna be losing out on our next generation of great performers."

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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