Epic Games and Fortnite's billionaire boss Tim Sweeney plays devil's advocate in the Arc Raiders AI debate, argues the tech could create "an even bigger opportunity" for actors

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"When tech increases productivity, competition leads to building better games rather than employing fewer people."

Arc Raiders best weapons
(Image credit: Embark Studios)

Epic Games CEO and founder Tim Sweeney has butted into the debate around AI in Arc Raiders by arguing that the tech could, somehow, create more opportunities for actors rather than replacing jobs.

To quickly catch you up, the extraction shooter's developer Embark Studios freely admitted to using text-to-speech tech in both Arc Raiders and The Finals with the consent of some human voice actors, which drew backlash from a subset of players who'd prefer to get their voice lines read by, well, real voices.

While execs like Sweeney and EA's Andrew Wilson gush about AI tech - the latter after laying off hundreds of employees - voice actors have been more trepidatious about it. The Last of Us Part 2's Ashly Burch recently expressed concern that studios would use AI to replace minor roles – the sort of acting jobs that Burch and performers of her calibre cut their teeth on.

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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