The Voice Actor Strike is Hitting Our Games

[@Sakuyamon]

I have to admit, the part where Paimon asks Mavuika to mute Ajaw when he was already muted, was pure gold. Hillarious.

[@NecronHandlee]

Ye that was funny lmao

[@tristanmanalo6252]

💀💀💀

[@oliwek70]

@Sakuyamon : sorry, this answer was not a reaction to your comment, but to other ones I had read 😅

[@greenth-mac2550]

My thoughts exactly when I played the part.

[@yamete_kudasai6969]

Idk the story but why did VAs go on strike?

[@wufflewolf8556]

I think I should mention that the reason Kachina in particular doesnt have a voice this patch is because her voice actor was involved in a car accident and is currently recuperating and unable to record at this time Correction: she fell off a ladder doing home remodelling

[@Toonrick12]

Ok, but without the strike, they would of at least had a fellow VA cover for them until they could record their lines. Xiangling's VA was used in Diona's Hangout Quest for a few patches while she was ill (It wasn't COVID, IIRC)

[@wufflewolf8556]

@Toonrick12 oh okay, I wasn't around for that so that's news to me

[@Brownyan]

@@Toonrick12 And didn't Keqing have a line about Yanfei that was temporarily done by Sucrose's actress?

[@Lennis01]

I didn't know that about Kachina's VA. I hope she's okay. But Kinich's VA was missing in the Archon quest, too. Without more information, I'll assume his absence is due to the strike.

[@FireFang97]

@@Lennis01 his demo was in JP cause of the strike so it's safe to say that is the reason tbh I thought they would just use JP so it wasn't mute was kinda disappointed ngl

[@Olivia-lx9tq]

Language is so inherit to human cultures and it's such a shame to see big companies stamp on that in the name of saving money

[@btd0ja]

For real. Acting is literally one of the oldest art forms we have; there’s a reason why high schoolers still read and recite Oedipus and Antigone, it’s because acting is pivotal to our culture and history AS HUMANS. It’s such a disgrace to see venture capitalists and tech bros try and throw literal thousands of years worth of art and culture under the bus for the sake of easier money.

[@BBWahoo]

Yes, and it's narrowed down by Americanized crapola. Still better than AI.

[@enid9911]

Which they can only do because people continue to buy their ai games. Hate the player, not the game.

[@veronika607]

​@@enid9911why are you defending a greedy corporation? 🙂

[@JustaDragoon]

@@veronika607 it's true though their boycot was a joke despite so called boycotting hoyo they was still buying currency and playing the games :D what a bunch of clowns even if your a f2p player you are still part of the meteric that the company can show investors

[@pokemonsliver]

I got to say, having completed 5.1 story today, boy does some of the characters hurt not being voice. Poor Kinich especially since he plays a signific role in the story. One because John Patneaude does such an amazing job voicing him, and two is that without a voice it can be hard sometimes to tell what emotion a character is trying to express through dialog alone, especially ones who are normally a bit deadpan like Kinich. The actors should not be blamed for any of this. The fault lies entirely on the greed of the companies who pushed them to strike in the first place. I just hope some progress can be made soon because I don't 5.2 or many other video game stories are going to hit the same being mostly silent. Amazing video, great job presenting all of the information.

[@-amel-9896]

Yeah like Paimon said that it was surprising to see kinich almost panicking when he's usually impassible, but we wouldn't really have known if she didn't say it cuz this was supposed to be shown through the voice acting...

[@jacobgym]

Guess the best solution is to switch dubs for now and support the strike so that it can achieve it’s goal as soon as possible

[@NecronHandlee]

Kinich, ajaw and kachina is just gone

[@JadeIsMellow]

Hopefully after the strike is over he'll come back and re-voice the lines... Though one thing people won't be able to re-voice are lines from limited events... So let's hope this is resolved ASAP

[@dusker_s]

yeah.. I didn't even know kinich was panicking in that one scene until paimon told us

[@TriforceZard]

Notice how the bad takes on Twitter come from mainly checkmarks

[@TheNrat]

Yea they trying get interaction for money

[@Brolapsed]

Because ‘checkmarks’ hate paying people fairly, are anti strikes and protest….

[@BBWahoo]

​@@TheNrat We should replace them with AI 😂

[@maevethefox5912]

​@@BBWahooI bet a bunch of them are

[@LPTheGas]

...but what else is new?

[@jennyholiday88]

we are in a golden age of voice acting- so much amazing talent and quality- all to be brought down by souless robot voices.

[@lazyfox3871]

And I hope the robot wins

[@UltimateInkling]

@@lazyfox3871 bot

[@ZenXeno1]

​@@lazyfox3871Actual bot

[@lazyfox3871]

@@ZenXeno1 #Nofriends

[@ZenXeno1]

​@@lazyfox3871Yeah, the script is definitely running, right on queue

[@SharkieTheDork]

To your point at the end, "AI" is such a broad term bring used as a buzzword at any opportunity that it really muddles the conversation at large. It's lumping together programming that decides how NPCs behave, image upscaling, generative language models like ChatGPT, algorithms that can detect cancer cells, it's all different stuff! I'm sure tech that's been around for years with different terminology would be thrown under the same AI umbrella if it came out today, like Google SEO or the algorithm Spotify uses to recommend users music (Although I wouldn't be surprised if some of that stuff *has* been rebranded to be "AI"). It's impossible to make a blanket statement because some "AI" can literally save lives, and some of it makes slop that's being used to disregard hard working artists. Anyway, wishing the best to the voice actors.

[@FakeFlameSprite]

@@SharkieTheDork yeah it is a broad term. The issue is that it was made to be that way. It's a tech buzzword meant to hype something up and obfuscate how all this stuff works, even before the current tech existed. All the tech people decided "this should all be called ai because that sounds cooler and makes it seem more advanced" and changing that would take years at this point. I can't blame someone for not using the exact tech term for something intentionally deceitful.

[@kittycatsdafs]

This distinction is entirely meaningless, I don't think anyone doesn't already believe real ai has good potential. Whenever people talk about how 'ai' is broadly and consistently used poorly, someone always pops up to say 'Oh but don't forget, not all ai is bad!' like yeah obviously.... ai is not an oppressed minority, I don't care

[@williemherbert1456]

To be honest, It's not the AI's fault rather than those that hold control over it as a substituting tool for making product, even when earlier to be intended as merely supporting tool for employees in working out project as best as they could while learning new things to smoothen your skill further, shouldn't ever be used as tool that being used against humanity.

[@FakeFlameSprite]

@@kittycatsdafs not sure "ai as a term is outright market propaganda and has been a grift from the start" is a meaning distinction. There's so much bullshit in the world that entire political parties and governments are built on propaganda and lies from hundreds of years ago. Saying "nobody would fall for this propaganda, it obviously lies!" is outright ignorant of the world and how it operates. You can't just suddenly fix it by saying "this shit is bad" especially when a lot of people just want to confirm their preexisting biases

[@FakeFlameSprite]

@@williemherbert1456 ai is a tool, but within minutes was molded into a tool for late stage capitalism (to squeeze every last penny from millions of average people to like 10). Until it's regulated, any attempt to get AI to do good will always be outdone by how negative the actual effects are.

[@HeyItsMutt]

"Ai won't take people's jobs!" and then it does and people say there's nothing anyone could've done when we could've AVOIDED IT THE WHOLE TIME

[@enid9911]

It is the voice actors fault for having so many demands like being in a union. It's time for ai to take over annoying humans.

[@entropy8634]

@@enid9911Ai doesn’t have a voice, they steal it from people without permission or compensation.

[@enid9911]

@@entropy8634 That is not true. My ChatGTP has his own voice and he is very polite to me. He would never do such a thing.

[@HeyItsMutt]

@@entropy8634 agreed

[@HeyItsMutt]

@enid9911 and this is what a crazy person sounds like, someone who thinks robots and AI are the solution to everything. if you tell robot to divide by zero, it's gonna explode. then what? you have nothing. AI's aren't people. they're robots. they don't have feelings. it's a program that's telling you what you want to hear.

[@Maethendias]

this is a failure of the lawmakers btw just expected when those making our laws are 70 years old and dont even know how an email works in the digital age

[@MichellePaulette79]

Exactly, we have people writing Internet and tech legislation that can’t even operate a modern telephone! If old enough/allowed: Vote and vote often, local state and federal. primaries, midterms, and presidential. Check with people that you support and causes that you support and find out who they endorse. Vote for people looking out for all of us, vote for people who support workers over bosses and CEOs like your life depends on it, because unless you’re a CEO, it does.

[@bluetoadettethegoddess6104]

I always say this but AI is not evil, it's a tool. It's the same as a chainsaw, give it to the right people and they can do something much easier and better than before, give it to the wrong people and it can create more harm than good. AI should ASSIST and not REPLACE. AI can do incredible things but replacing people is not it.

[@xtrem5428]

Agreed 100%. I've seen Skyrim mods using AI voices, which is more understandable considering they make no money from it, tho the lack of consent from the VA is still problematic. There's also a lot of great usage of AI technology overall, like in medicine, AI can spot cancer cells faster and with better success rate than humans. I work in IT and we've started using AI to help write code faster, especially the boring repetitive parts, and even if I need to double-check it, I'm happy it's there.

[@Talinthis]

Agreed, it just seems to be removing hundreds of thousands of jobs in all sorts of fields though and in ways is making life much harder on everyone.

[@deldalus]

now that I wonder if it possible for VA to sign contract for using AI learning their voice but they will be ALWAYS get % of money anytime that AI were used (in case they had reason not to/are unavailable to voice by themselves directly). sounds like a good passive income for VA and also appropriate usage of AI..

[@famimame]

Evil or not, it will displace a lot of workers. It's already happening in my industry and will kept progressing. Yes it's a tool but that won't stop the corporate CEOs to see how 1 guy with AI will replace 10 guy without AI, and that's a corpo wet dream to cut overhead cost. Until it hits your sector then you won't see the effect.

[@AnArtistInAVoid]

What the primitive approximation that we currently call Ai is, is indeed a tool, and can’t be considered inherently evil, but we can’t say the same for the people using the tool. Let’s go to your Chainsaw example. A chainsaw isn’t inherently evil, since it cannot take action on its own to specifically cause harm to others, but people can use chainsaws for evil, like murder, for an extreme example. The same idea that people can use tools for evil also exists for Ai, where it can be used for deepfakes, stealing art, using other people’s voice and likeness without permission, and prematurely replacing jobs for people that have no safety net for such a situation, which is what Ai is predominately being used for at this time. Ai might not be inherently evil, but it certainly is causing more problems for regular people than it is bringing benefits, like how a chainsaw makes cutting wood faster.

[@ryuhoshu3303]

Your intentions are very noble and this is very serious for voice actors but unfortunately X (Twitter) is just a cesspool, can't expect much out of there

[@firewolflycan]

Even if Ajaw eng va didn’t record i can still hear it in my head

[@Lennis01]

Genshin Impact is such a big game that the issue of the voice actor's strike is finally going to go viral. Maybe some action will finally be taken to ensure the protection of VAs. People need to understand what's really happening here. The big question I have now is what will happen to the content that is being produced without English voices? Is it mute forever, or will it be re-released later with the voices? Hoyo may lose players over this, and it's not even their fault.

[@raspyy259]

They'll be added once the issue is resolved.

[@Fae_-kf3qu]

I don't think this issue can cause more disappointment like the bigger issues that drove genshin players away (slow updates on QOL, for example). Those who stayed solely for the game and lore have gone through all the shit hyv did to genshin, so I don't think this much would affect it.

[@phonebackup2083]

They won't lose the players that spend money.

[@Lennis01]

@@phonebackup2083 Not permanently, no, but it could have an impact on banner sales, which would in turn affect the company's stock price. Normally this wouldn't be of much concern to them, except now there is a credible Genshin competitor eating into their market share. Not sure if the strike is affecting Wuthering Waves the same way.

[@minatoarisato7652]

@@Lennis01 Stock price? They're private. We'd have a billion videos from drama CC's about dips otherwise lol. Also, banner revenue is mostly from the East, which is why I don't think they'll see a big drop on sales. Western players don't spend nearly as much due to differences in culture. Gatcha is widely accepted there, but demonized in the west.

[@NijiKonohana]

Specifically for the case with Genshin, I'm curious if Hoyo is able to switch the studio for EVERY voice actor to a new studio. Since they were able to do it with Paimon's VA, who is at a new studio and seems happier than before, AND is able to voice act during the strike, wouldn't it make more logistical sense to just switch all of the VAs to the same studio and not have to deal with this issue again? I can presume it may cost extra, but I'd say it's a worthy cost to avoid issues for the long-term. Formosa seems to have quite a bad rep in general too, so it feels like a good idea to just drop them.

[@emery120]

Yeah, that's also what I think will happen in the worst case scenario

[@thienphucn1]

Yes they can switch studio but it can't be done overnight. They would need to terminate the contract with Formosa, then bring hundreds of voice actors to a different studio, then renegotiate a different contract with them and with the union itself. It will take time to do so. So the English dub of the game will be affected in the short term to matter what Mihoyo does

[@minatoarisato7652]

I've heard a problem with that idea. Formosa actively broke the contract by not paying her, which is why the move was possible. Don't know how feasible doing this would be otherwise, as striking doesn't break contracts so I hear.

[@That_Lady_Charlie]

Good. Power to the unions ✊🏽 Pay. Your. Actors.

[@anonanonymous9670]

0. Dollars.

[@SarajevoKyoto]

No, unions have WAY too much power already. That said, yes. Pay your actors if you want their voices.

[@That_Lady_Charlie]

​@@SarajevoKyotoYou know, it's wild how that reply won't change my mind at all. I support every union on strike in every industry.

[@supermikealex9780]

I just dont get it why to avoid such companies as Hoyoverse, who, as I heard, are very good at voice department and pay fair money to all actors involved. So this move kinda make it worse for companies who pay good and make it better for companies who do not pay good, kinda 50 50 situation but more risky

[@second_second_]

@@supermikealex9780 what do you mean? sorry i dont really understand about union. isn't it good, or is it not?

[@Ellie_Infinity]

I find it disgusting that companies are replacing talent and years or even decades of experience with AI that achieves less than half of the results. All just to save, what's to them, some pocket change.

[@Toonrick12]

The fate of late stage capitalism and normalization of greed. Alas, too many people demand a one quick fix to everything, which isn't possible. In their eyes; if there isn't a single solution, there's no solution.

[@second_second_]

those companies should ask AI to pay for their business lol. who would pay for expensive soulless stuff. people usually pay to support their favourite voice actors, why do these businessmen think to steal their voices without permission.

[@Octav2000]

I’m more than ok with characters being mute if it’s to protect the voice actors from ai as I hate ai

[@LuckyBenjamin_]

I completely agree

[@DragonGamer-ml4mq]

I think so too

[@bluetoadettethegoddess6104]

As much as I'd want to agree with that, I feel characters being mute when they were supposed to be voice acted in the first place can drastically affect the experience of something. Of course that varies from person to person but that's just me. I really hope things get sorted out soon

[@entropy8634]

@@bluetoadettethegoddess6104I highly recommend changing the dub to Japanese

[@amandaslough125]

@@entropy8634 The Korean and Chinese dubs are good too.

[@Toonrick12]

To those who say "Well, I don't care about the English VAs being replaced with AI because I play in Japanese!" I ask you this; do you SERIOUSLY think that Japanese companies won't do the exact same thing as American companies? Especially with how much those voice actors are being paid? If English VAs can be replaced with AI, so too will your precious Seiyuus be replaced.

[@mogalixir]

People wont be replaced by AI until they do a better job than humans. Then they’ll nearly all be replaced. Until then - audiences will demand real people for major roles.

[@skybattler2624]

Japan already predicted this and already made laws about replacement by machines. So is Korea and China. US is just lagging WAY Behind

[@snakecake-mw7vw]

that depends if they have (((investors))), otherwise they are pretty receptive

[@manuelalbertoromero9528]

​@@skybattler2624OH really? That's actually good to learn.

[@williemherbert1456]

@@skybattler2624 Well yeah, but that's only work for well-established and famous names as Seiyuu in the industry, what about those newbie into this industry that start by taking any backseat role in voicing over NPCs or side characters that has small screen time? It'll damn the mobility ladder to get better role in the future for next generation of Seiyuu, since it makes every chance for starting out even more impossible unless you got within some deep connection and financial capital as baseline.

[@BriannaDrobot]

This isn't what we had in mind when we joked about A.I taking over the world. I know the voice acting started off...ok ish when it came out, but nowadays, its really good. Some even say some characters sound better in English than the other dubs. When playing the new quests and you hear Paimon sound so sad and scared, you can feel that emotion and those companies actually think A.I can replicate that emotion just to make things cheap and easier for themselves. Hopefully the effects of the strike on Genshin and our reactions to it will be enough to make a difference and end the strike so that the VAs can be heard again.

[@peacemaker2448]

I do wish it was easier to find out which companies and by extension what games are affected by the strike. SAG's tool doesn't work and you need to look at the contracts on there website to see at least initially what companies sign the agreement.

[@slasherkz]

As an aspiring voice actor myself , just the thought of any game using a.i. voices makes me sick. Support human voice actors !

[@kenzor4953]

Talentless hacks. The Japanese alrdy molding multilingual Ai voices by seiyuus. U don’t stand a chance. They’ll bring the competition to the west while protecting their actual valuable seiyuu

[@NaganoharaYoimiya-bs7hb]

Stop buying anything that is made in factory by robots too. Buy handcrafted stuff only. Support human made product.

[@kodomo084]

​@@NaganoharaYoimiya-bs7hb boy are you stupid that a factory not a just single person that do a job like voice acting 💀. Be sm

[@catdownthestreet]

​@@NaganoharaYoimiya-bs7hb Agreed, the standardized form of literally everything isn't helping anyone outside of a few places, and the big companies keep monopolizing everything to prevent any better options from popping up. It's about time we stop supporting these things in favor of smaller services that can apply better to communities

[@robharli]

I cannot thank you enough for this nor agree more. I feel you did a very good job explaini9ng it as best you can. I just hope this reaches as many people as it can.

[@michaelpodgorski1692]

Thank you for the viability on this topic. The future is scary, but i have faith we can come out at least as the majority, as i think it is inevitable that AI will take a piece of the industry.

[@MichaelMacaw]

“They’re not asking for higher pay or changes to their environment” While that is applicable to this strike specifically, I do want to point out that pay for voiceover gigs, especially games and anime, are generally very low rates, and also (the larger studios) have started re-prioritizing local talent after being so willing to go remote during the pandemic. Those two things are very much still sticking points for a lot of VAs working day-to-day and hopefully once this AI-generated business is settled, we can get the field back to focusing on just taking better care of voice actors in general. Thanks for this video, Daniel, I hope this raises more awareness for this issue. Strike news has definitely been a bit silent lately despite it still going on.

[@BBWahoo]

If they payed more, we may get some actual talent. Everyone wins! You get a better performance which adds value to your product, as I can't stand most VA's because of getting what is paid for

[@Lennis01]

@@BBWahoo Most of the Genshin talent is quite good, though. Even a lot of the NPC dialogue is good.

[@BBWahoo]

@@Lennis01 Debatable, what is not debatable is having to side with them to stop the already limited pool of VA's from getting screwed over by AI exploitation.

[@saeranchoi3343]

⁠@@Lennis01Except for that one NPC in Nilou’s quest. Both the performance and quality were poor. I thought it sounded like a man pretending to be a woman. Turns out I was right. No idea why they chose him when there are plenty of skilled female VAs out there.

[@Lennis01]

@@saeranchoi3343 I played that quest just last week, and it wasn't one of Genshin's better takes, I'll admit. Still, most of the voiced content overall ranges from decent to excellent.

[@tedioustotoro4885]

It just disappoints me that big actors like Judi Dench, John Cena, and Keegan-Michael Key appeared in a video a few days ago promoting Facebook’s new AI voice features. There was also an entire controversy a few months back about the English subtitles for the anime ‘My Deer Friend Nokotan’ being made using AI instead of hiring actual translators for the show.

[@nworder4life]

John Cena appeared on stream and spoke in Mandarin publicly asking China for forgiveness for saying Taiwan was a country. He'll do and say anything for money.

[@skybattler2624]

As for the localizer industry, they just need to remove people like Jaimee Marchi (people who changes the message of the artform to promote 'The Message@') and we are good. People are so supportive of replacing the localizing industry because of the bad apples.

[@phonebackup2083]

@@skybattler2624 thank you!

[@boss_one]

The actual problem of this strike in USA is the absence of entire law on protecting people from some advance technology that could endanger their occupation and talent (in this case, companies will use a specific function of AI that could replace all voice actors for the sake of more gains and profits, without crediting and paying them). Other countries (Japan, South Korea and China) had already laws protecting their people from unfair use of their talent for AI, so they have no problem so far. And not just Genshin, some games are already facing it, and future updates are affected. I don't know how long this strike will run, but I think greed won't subside from these companies. Contracts are still on effect, so nothing could be done. We hope that this problem will end, and will experience the immersion on playing games that was given life by these talented voice actors. 🙂

[@nettedteeth]

ai is (in my opinion) ment to be assisting the workers not replacing the second big companys look at the money they forgot that

[@ShadowEclipex]

What's extra sad about this is I had a discussion with a VA Manager (or something like that) awhile ago who was busy trying to defend Voice Actors, but at the same time he was using and justifying using Generative AI to make AI Gen Images (I refuse to call it art). It was depressing seeing how he couldn't see his blatant hypocrisy.

[@dafirelive]

Its a shame that i see people in these comments are just like those twitter users.

[@dafirelive]

I mean like stuff saying genshin is bad.

[@MaxHP1]

Same. Frankly, GVG should just delete those comments.

[@Toonrick12]

​@@dafireliveGenshin has problems. But it has made an undeniable impact (🥁) on the industry as a whole. Problem is, most people see something they don't like and want it to go away to THEY don't have to see it. If THEY don't like it, no one should.

[@BBWahoo]

​@@dafirelive Let them share their opinion, then you can prove them wrong via ratio

[@dafirelive]

@BBWahoo Oh I already did. It's not even that people don't like genshin. It's that people are blaming genshin for this, when hoyo them selves are pressuring the va company to just give the va what they want.

[@AaelmfaoBDplays]

11:29 AI isn't evil. Generative AI is whats evil, because it comes not out of making things convenient but out of greed, not wanting to pay artists for their work.

[@boxeswithfoxes]

Agreed, AI can be used for good.

[@andta7889]

As an artist I really don’t think gen AI is that evil. It’s like hiring the same artist for everything. Everything will just look the same sound the same. It’s not evil, it’s just plain boring.

[@andta7889]

If an artist is better than me. Sure they should get hired, even if they are AI. If AI can truly be as versatile and skilled as a real human and replace them. Take my money, no strike will work. Cuz they don’t need artist anymore. but so far it’s not the case.

[@andta7889]

If AI replaced all human artists. Games would become boring. Imagine only programmers and engineers using AI to make a visually heavy game. By then companies will hire real artist to stay competitive. There is no way a single tool is a silver bullet to good art. it’s like push this button and it will make 1000 copies of slightly different version of the same thing. Not very competitive.

[@andta7889]

It’s the natural way. What is easy will be obvious and boring. What is valuable and innovative will always be difficult. No matter what time period we live in or what tools we have.

[@IzumiS3na]

It’s really jarring and can take you out of the story when some characters are voiced and others arent. That being said, it’s worth it if it means voice actors will be protected in the future. I’d rather temporarily experience this than hear soulless ai “voice acting”

[@mofumofu9648]

its so sad because we will be able to celebrate nahida birthday as an event but probably the only one who will be voiced is paimon, so sad because the sumeru english vas are super loved by the whole community, look at kaveh lol

[@BriannaDrobot]

I hate the idea that because of the effects of the strike, the event will be ruined too. Imagine we get an emotional scene but it can't be as intended due to the lack of voice lines. It'll most likely not happen but HYV should instead delay it and might as well put production on hold to avoid further problems. We don't want even more patches ruined by the strike and we have no idea when it'll end. I hope something will be done about it in time because this situation just keeps making me more upset as well as angry even though I shouldn't be. The VAs are fighting for something right after all.

[@siz1608]

Switching the language doesn’t solve any problems for me since I don’t wanna be bothered by reading all of the scripts by myself. En dub do that for me and i can be more relaxed while playing archon quests. I hope the voices will be back soon.

[@DarkMubar]

This video was so well done Daniel. You managed to discuss the matter and concerns with tact and some solid examples.I learnt a lot from how clear and sincere everything was. Genshin is the more clear example on how the strike and the threat of exploitable contracts (and misused AI/ML tools) can impact the gane and industry we love. We're going to see this beyond Genshin, in other games too. This was just a wake up call. Hopefully we will see this matter sorted out for all voice actors, towards their benefit and stop these poor business practises.

[@gregwilliams4926]

Paying workers is becoming more and more scarce now. First you hear people not paying their animators, now voice actors. I just don't understand this industry anymore. They lend their hard work they spend decades on and now we're replacing them with robots? I absolutely hate AI, I never liked this in any form.

[@Axecon1]

Thank you for bringing this to light Daniel. This is one of the scummiest things to happen in human history. AI should NEVER, EVER, in ANY CIRCUMSTANCE be a replacement for honest working human beings. Companies that use AI to replace human talent are the scum of the Earth.

[@laggalot1012]

I think specifically, or at least primarily, this goes for creative work. Voice actors? Artists? Absolutely, keep AI as far away from that as possible. But for one example, I hear that other Hoyo games, like Honkai Star Rail, use AI to automate lipsyncing. That, I think, is a completely reasonable use of it, even though that would normally be a human's job to work out. I don't imagine a lot of people find that kind of job much fun, and a lot of games just kinda throw it out the window anyway, especially if it's going through localisation. (See literally Genshin not even trying, for non-CN languages.) And it also makes the jobs of VA's easier, so they won't have to worry about matching lip-flaps if they would've had to otherwise. (This was notoriously an issue with Xenoblade Chronicles 2.)

[@TheRoleplayer40k]

In human history? Lol yeah it’s right up there with genocide and slavery lol

[@Axecon1]

@@laggalot1012 That's a fair point, and to my original point, I'm advocating against the use of AI "replacing" human talent. I chose that word very specifically. I'm still nebulous on the use AI to ease and enhance human work but I can see the possibility of benefits.

[@Axecon1]

@@TheRoleplayer40k Ok, yes, that specific instance was being overdramatic, but the irresponsible ways that AI has previously been misused shows that the technology has the potential to go down a very dark path if left unchecked. Stealing people's intellectual rights and abilities are just the tip of the iceberg. Already it has been used in cybercrime & hacking targeting systems like hospitals, healthcare records, and water treatment facilities that have impeded on privacy and caused millions if not billions in damages.

[@second_second_]

@@Axecon1 yeah, replacing by stealing from others, those people and corporates who use AI for this are scums

[@namikkou]

I hope the VAs get what they deserve the the protections that they should have. I'm going to wait till everything is resolved to play the archon quest, because having some characters voiced and some not is just...very jarring and takes you out of the experience.

[@nakano8412]

I've not played Genshin that much since 1st week of 5.0, but still watch some content on the game, saw the new update having no playerable character's voice acting. Kind of suprised to see this affect the main archon quest for 5.1, assumed the new characters would have their voice lines done for at least 5.5 or the strike being over sooner. I really hope the strike can end soon and that the voice actors gets their protection from being used with AI. For now I really do hope that the voice actors won't be fired/replaced while this is on going, some of the voice actors like Huohuo, Tail, Argenti in Star Rail got replaced, idk if any more changes have happend. I wouldn't be too suprised if eventually genshin va's get replaced, especially the more "minor" roles. Alot of stuff is slowly being replaced with AI, if humans let AI make art, games, voices, then what is left for us humans to do? We will no longer have any purpose, other than being puppets doing who knows what. AI is fine on paper if being used as a tool, not to take away freedom & creativity, but how it's used it's just for greed. Honestly as the video mentioned, playing through a game like Three Houses, Engage, Xenoblade, Persona etc would be such a different experience without voice acting, good voice acting geniunely enhances the quality so much.

[@dometalican1990]

Dude, Twitter is dead. We all know the kind of people there now. Anyway, it's bad enough that voice actors don't get enough credit for what they do (it's pathetic how many actors that aren't voice actors get main roles vs guys like Dan Green, Tom Kenny, or Tara Strong; can we stop 'starring' Chris Pratt and utilizing Awkwafina?) but to completely replace them is inconsiderate. This is LITERALLY robots taking our jobs. I support them. We need to limit A.I. in media. It should only be used if the voice actors/actresses get their fair share and THEY CONSENT TO THEIR VOICES BEING USED FOR YEARS TO COME.

[@RJH755]

Twitter is just 4chan with microtransactions now

[@bluetoadettethegoddess6104]

Consent is the biggest factor, I do think there is a legitimate use case for a symbiosis between VA and AI, but that cannot be forced upon them.

[@amandaslough125]

I definitely think both are valid. Voice acting is something actors can do even if they're "past their prime" and it's always nice being able to switch up the work. Some actors also understand the industry and work that goes into it, which is why Jack Black has been doing it for decades. Renata, the EN VA for Yae, also came from an acting background. And Tighnari is the guy who played the Diary of a Wimpy Kid character. It's when big shot actors are being forced for celebrity marketing that its shallow and annoying. Which Robin Williams distinctively hated when he was hired to voice Aladdin's Genie.

[@sirmel11]

Dan gets roles? Lol

[@boxeswithfoxes]

Agreed

[@ironwoodkid9577]

There's gonna be a big event in 5.1 Genshin version and some data miner noticed that only 2 (TWO!) characters will be voiced, out of what, 10 or so? If you thought AQ was bad, wait until the event goes live

[@SodiumWage]

I stand with the voice actors. I do not want AI "voices" replacing real people. I am not anti-AI - AI has its uses, but not like this. AI should be a tool to help artists create art, not create the art itself.

[@nadyanathania3847]

As a human being who also work in art i would want vas to be paid humanely

[@PancakeOakhurst]

Actors are great in every language. People deserve their jobs and livelihood. People who argue that one language is better than the other are either mindless drones or awful people. Stop putting people down for their work or the way they enjoy their media and content. Point of the matter here is US voice actors should be protected. More importantly who is to say that other countries won't follow suit if AI succeeds. Be respectful.

[@Ragnamune]

We lived through the Atari, NES/SNES, Genesis, and early PS1/N64 days without voice acting in our games. Until the VAs succeed in their strike to get their just due protection, we can do it again.

[@PeruvianPotato]

You say this even though a major marketing gimmick in those games was the addition of voice clips back then. Either way, we aren't in 1994 anymore.

[@Lennis01]

What worries me is that the voice actors are basically unemployed until this gets resolved. And if you live in an expensive state like California, that can get painful in a hurry. There could be long-lasting implications from this.

[@Hinoirocks]

@@Lennis01 it is worrying, but most VAs do other work since, barring exclusive contacts, so it's not outside a common realm to do non-struck work. it might not be easy, but they'll make it.

[@Lennis01]

@@Hinoirocks The bigger names might do okay. It's the smaller ones that won't. And when there's a smaller pool of available talent, it's going to be felt across the industry. People with ambitious game ideas will have to settle for less, and the industry will become more stale as customers lose interest in derivative products.

[@Hinoirocks]

@@Lennis01 i mean, what are we calling smaller here? even some AAA game actors have multiple ways of getting by. it wasn't that long ago that it came out Hellena Taylor (Bayonetta) got some pretty crap pay. Genshin's a big deal industry wise, but even Corina (Paimon)\ does a bunch of other stuff. your concerns aren't unwarranted, but they've prepared for this. strikes don't just come from nowhere.

[@arch391]

I literally won't play Genshin if the voice is changed or not updating. Eng VA part is what usually makes best for me if the story or other things are not good. NONO. LETS FILL THE PETITION.

[@darkness973]

Thank you for posting this. I was wondering if the missing voices had been a glitch, but it is good to know it isn't just me, and the reason for it. I hope the strike gets resolved soon.

[@OceanEchoe]

I guess only EN (english) have muted voice characters like Kachina and Kinich. But when I switch to Japanese, all of the characters have voices including Kachina and Kinich

[@anteprs7908]

becuase jap va have protection they had strike ages ago ahead of time

[@kalmialatifoliach]

Yes, the strike is only ongoing for English voice actors.

[@ShanMichaelEscasio]

I think an NPC in genshin in this current patch has been replaced by AI. Tliazoli, Xilonen's aunt. She sounded monotonous and robotic and emotionless at most even when scenes were supposed to be dark and emotional. Yeah, thank you so much, Formosa Interactive! I offer you my middle finger salute!

[@JacktheLightningRipper]

I firmly believe that companies want to push more for AI just so they can both save money and earn even more money because some products just make money regardless of quality, especially if they come up a bunch in marketing. Companies want to create a system that the masses can freely operate on their own and if the masses don’t want to, then the companies will find a reason for them to.

[@thegreatBarbossa]

capitalism 101 is to maximize output while minimizing input. ergo if companies can do anything to pay less people less money they will do it, even if the end product winds up being worse. this is why we need unions.

[@Akefia]

I switched to Japanese for this patch. Couldn't stand this without voiceover. Especially Kachina being silent, who I love. As good as they are, I want the english VAs back! I hope they solve this soon. Japanese VAs and others already have AI protection. All of the VAs deserve that. I am mad at the companies, not at the VAs or Mihoyo.

[@EdisonTheFox]

It was so jarring to play through 5.1s Archoin Quests like this... I sincerly hope the VAs are able to fight this practice and get back to doing what they do best: Voicing our favourite characters

[@SambaArtProduction]

I am not an American voice actress but a freelance artist and I seen what mid journey did to our field, a lot of book covers in my country are all designed via AI and also anime cons covers and such stuff , there is also some of the artist whom get accused to using AI because of their high level of art, to make matter worse there are software that makes speed art now so even if you do a speed art of proof to your client AI now is doing that, I am also a translator so I know that a lot of companies now are switching to AI now even with the 2 main language I work with which is Japanese and Arabic so both of my careers directions are unknown to me now, I am not against AI as a helping tool but against it in replacing us humans ,it should make our life easier not take over it 😢

[@superdankawesomeunikornguy]

I appreciate that important distinction towards the end of the video that AI isn’t an inherently evil tool. It’s a tool we’ve used for years, even in creative fields, and it’s only garnered such a negative reputation recently due to new advancements in the technology being misused by greedy corporations and other bad actors. Ideally, these advancements should serve to assist artists, not replace them. It upsets me when the Internet immediately dogpiles a corporation for investing in AI because in a perfect world, that’s exactly what they should be doing. We should always strive to push technology forward, and games wouldn’t be where they are today if we never automated the game making process past the NES days. Strikes like these are important for securing artists’ jobs and forcing these greedy businesses not to oversimplify the artistic process. Let’s remind ourselves that there is a future for these kinds of tools, but they shouldn’t be abused. Best of luck to these voice actors.

[@aktdrugi]

I thought it was genshins fault and that they just made a mistake too but it seems the voice actors are trying to protect themselves which I'm all for. Just hope this won't be long.

[@xtrem5428]

Voice actors are already underpaid a lot

[@sparkypack]

I hope Jon and his fellow actors get paid fairly.

[@BBWahoo]

Which had made VA quality worse, generative AI would be the final nail on the coffin.

[@Toonrick12]

You ever notice how many of the jobs that AI bros target are jobs that are already low paying? 🤔

[@BBWahoo]

@@Toonrick12 LOL! If they're even hired to begin with, envious hypocrites!

[@Nope_999]

I tried to play the quest with the half dubbed characters and ooh boy. The silence was painful. (I couldn't continue the quest) I really hope they'll sort it out and win their voices to do their craft/work. Hearing the character talking brings them life in this game. The voice actor's work is amazing! I can say it feels like magic. It's sad that they must protect their voices because now ai is a threat. They had the right to own their own voices from the begining, but it seem it isn't as simple anymore.

[@azuarc]

I'm glad I ran the AQ last night, because I'd be pretty pissed if I watched this and saw some of the spoiled cutscenes.

[@sehrish1837]

kachina didn't have a voice because her VA fell and hurt her knees,so she got hospitalised

[@sojourner4726]

GVG not being scab lovers. Love y’all.

[@FosBlue]

Lotta people in these comments REALLY missing the point here….

[@monkeydluffy5054]

@@FosBlue oh they definitely are by a lot

[@BBWahoo]

On purpose, spite + apathy is a toxic combo. They'll scream when their precious sonic or [mascot] is touched, by then it'll be too late. It's not about just genshin, it's about EVERYBODY. If this was in a vacuum, I would not care, but it has a knock-on effect and that is a major omen.

[@Scipio0404]

It felt so strange that the main archon quest had silent dialogues but given a huge portion of the game is not voiced. I didn't find it that disturbing. Still it's a shame it's happening.

[@RiksGamingChannel]

I very much appreciate the fact that you did a video about this. As a Genshin EN player who cares very deeply about the game, it really sucks to see this happen, all stemming because Formosa is a greedy piece of shit company who doesn't give a rat's ass about their talented voice actors.

[@phonebackup2083]

I think the alarm bells for ai were ignored when the truckers were complaining about automation taking their jobs. No pne really cared or backed them. Now ppl want us to care about another set of jobs being taken by ai. Especially towards a group of ppl that have begun putting their opinions out on twitter(albeit) the vocal minority, not helping fans want to support their cause by being divisive. It's sad, but the current future is bleak. It's the same with localizers being replaced by ai translations.

[@ioannishussein8038]

It’s not fair for the English voice actors to get replaced by the AI. The strike needs to succeed as soon as possible, so that the AI must never exist.

[@boxeswithfoxes]

And it should only exist to help the humans out not the big greedy corpos

[@Brolapsed]

I totally thought my game was just glitched lol

[@_jn0298]

Twitter keyboard warrios not understanding the business and blaming Hoyoverse is so funny, i play with JP Dub. but i hope that the ENG Dub community points finger to the right people

[@ProfessorDefault]

I think the strike will be really apparent when the Sumeru event comes along, as leakers said only 2 characters outta entire cast will be voiced

[@irinapanova7577]

yeah... I was really looking forward to it too it's such a shame as I love the EN cast sm. It is what it is, people's rights come before pixels, haha

[@ATHOS_of_INDEX]

I was an English dub player until this patch where I switched to JP. Even if the strike ends, I'm not switching back. There's a reason half of the CN player base prefers the jp dub. It's sooooooooooo good. Crazy good. The English is awesome, I fell in love with the game because of it, but the jp dub though...

[@MelaKaden]

The new quests in Genshin feel super jarring with random characters unvoiced. I don't understand why basic AI protections is something that needs months and months of striking just to get leverage. The VAs are such a huge part of the marketing for a lot of games. It's their voices; they deserve this protection. It's ridiculous it's come this far.

[@leestefan2999]

"If it doesn't affect me, it doesn't hurt me, then that's not my business." Safe to say, this is the common mentality of people. Just wait on, chefs, technicians, doctors, surgeons, drivers, teachers, whatever you can think of, AI can eventually replace humans. Probably only then, more people will get upset with the direction AI is heading. With AI replacing everything, what new replacement jobs are there for the people when this whole world runs on a monetary system?

[@Olliewooood]

I think the whole fact that companies are using ai in the first place is lame. If anyone’s ever seen anything on ai, they’d know it doesn’t sound any good

[@SussyBaka_irl]

Nah AI is great when it assists & doesn't generate. AI software exists all across the Internet in improved search algorithms for reports & articles, grammar errors & the like, plus with video game development, AI has helped quicken the process of a bunch of menial tasks like applying the correct texture & shadow lighting on EVERY square foot of pixels in an area. The only problem with AI is when stop replying on it to assist with processes & require it to say generate worlds or even replicate voice talent, as we're seeing rn.

[@MetalSonicReject]

@@SussyBaka_irlThen it’s better to say that generative AI is the main issue, not more practical algorithms.

[@Olliewooood]

@@SussyBaka_irlOh I’m referring to ai “art”. Like the video mentioned I definitely see benefit in using it as a tool to make my life easier, cause in reality ai is just a more advanced computer. Sorry for the confusion, could’ve probably been more specific rather than just saying, “Ai bad.”

[@Lennis01]

AI might not sound very good now, but that will change all too quickly. That's at the heart of the strike. People can see which way the wind is blowing, so legal protections have to be established for creators and artists to preserve their livelihoods.

[@oliwek70]

The advice to turn to the original Japanese voice over is short sighted. Japanese voice actors will face the same problems if publishers favour the less expensive AI way. As players, let's support artists, not publishers pushing AI and micro transactions.

[@Null_DreiAcht]

The whole AI voice issue kind of put things into perspective for me. I'm a Genshin Player that has played the game in english since day one (so the absence of so many english voices in the main story and version 5.1 flagship event has been a major pain in the butt), but before Genshin I've been a Kamen Rider fan. As a Kamen Rider fan, I've made a few design for OC Riders and wanted to make cosplay out of these design. I was even planning to make my own original copies of certain gimmick item as cosplay props with sound effects. That's where I think my idea is starting to get too far though, as some gimmick item are voiced. For example, the Gaia Memory, from Kamen Rider W, are voiced by Fumihiko Tachiki (who was the shows narrator), whom also voices Sakazuki, aka Akainu, from One Piece. So I was thinking of using an AI "anime voice" of Akainu an record sounds for some custom made Gaia Memory cosplay props. While I haven't done anything yet, I was actually thinking of putting my plan in action, but now I'm having second though about it. AI technology shouldn't be uses in such way.

[@RoboticEdward]

It kinda sucks how much the culture wars have affected this topic. I play all my games in JP these days as someone learning the language. It's my preference. With all that said, this will still negatively impact media in the future because by using generative AI will just make the project lower quality by principal. It's just lame. Keep on striking.

[@azl218xc]

Hoyo is still dragging their feet here. Just fire Fomosa already and move the VA to their own studio. Surely the contracts are null and void if no one is doing the VA work for the game currently? Having some characters muted during the archon quest really breaks immersion imo, it was never funny just annoying. I'm used to the English version so I don't really want to play in JP. Also they've had English VA fill in for eachother before, why can't they just get people from their ZZZ studio or whatever to do the dub for now? Having a different voice for now is better than having the characters mute.

[@Lennis01]

It may not be that simple. A great voice acting performance depends as much on the voice direction as it does with the actor themselves, and that comes from the studio. Fomosa has done quality work up to this point. Replacing them outright might have a jarring effect on a VA's delivery in a scene, especially those with less experience.

[@DimitriKatsuro]

I really like twitter when im looking for fan arts and official account updates of my favourite games, but holy dam, the toxicity there can be brutal. I like Eng VAs, but until this problem gets fixed, i think im going to give a try to JP or Chinese VAs.

[@revhounder8425]

Ai voice cant even replicate human emotion that what's make game unique emotions in voice acting

[@noire6845]

you think Archon quest is bad? People found out from the game data of this patch, the main event of this version will only has 2 eng voice, which is Paimon and Collei

[@MelaKaden]

That's gonna be so rough. I'll definitely switch to JP for the event. I really love the English cast for Sumeru. It's gonna suck seeing all the familiar characters again, but not hear their voices 😢

[@LoliconSamalik]

@@MelaKaden If you want to be super authentic, you could switch to chinese

[@floridianliau35]

Wait I thought it was Cyno that was fully voiced in that event. Was that leak I saw wrong?

[@noire6845]

@@floridianliau35 tbh with you im also not sure, but 1 is definitely Paimon

[@Blacknight6577]

OMG I thought this was just me or like it was a bug in the game. Crazy how it’s because of this

[@jillybeen340]

what I found funny though was during the 5.1 archon quest paimon said in a line that she'd like ajaw to be muted which got me laughing ngl 😂

[@maheee]

i've always played all these gacha games with JP voice, but after i see EN genshin 5.1 story not voiced i feel bad for EN enjoyers. hopefully its better soon.

[@thespooklord3280]

I have a very interesting voice where many people wished for me to become a VA, and even did some small work towards that. With a dawn of AI however came the dusk of these hopes as now I'd be too afraid to put my face or voice online in the first place.

[@Oliveira_HS]

I hope the VA get a favorable deal for them.. however, I'm a consumer.. the backstage problems are not of my concern.. if more characters stop being voiced, I'll just change to another language.. and they should find a way to have a deal with the companies without impacting the important part: the consumer.. yk, the one who pays the companies that, in the end, pays the VA.. by going on strike, they'll just accelerate their replacement by the AI.. also, I'm sure the horse wagon drivers got mad when the car was invented, but are we still driving horse wagons??

[@T--------]

okay but cars were actually better in every way, this is like replacing a professional chef with a machine that endlessly makes slop, the only thing it does better is speed, it just sucks at everything else, also when a strike happens it's because all other options have been exhausted so affecting the consumer is kind of the point, if companies only care about money, then workers going on strike and hurting their income is sometimes the only way to be heard

[@Joeynator3000]

There's only ONE exception to AI voice in a game, one that I really wished it would come back on Switch. ....Tomodachi Life. T.T

[@punxiegeddings2711]

STOP URSULA.

[@Gaeul-j3j]

Lmao the new subzero event is feeling like a snooze fest with no voice and hearing just Paimon which already is a difficult task .

[@aron666able]

I had to download 17Gb for the japanese voice over because listening to a character and then silence for other character was getting on my nerves.

[@theshiny_lotad4661]

Pretty much every scene with Ajaw was made unintentionally funnier on account of the loud mouth not actually speaking

[@boxeswithfoxes]

As someone who likes AI, it shouldnt be abused like this. You should always have regulation and consent when it comes to AI, also pay voice actors if you use their voice fr.

[@danielseus1005]

It gets worse because some people are using AI to actually voice for someone to have high popularity same things that this person will never say and it's hard to tell if it's the person or is it just ai oh boy this is a nightmare this is like you don't have to say anything because someone else could just use your voice just like that

[@tamalemuncher789]

This sort of thing happened with Argenti in Honkai: Star Rail aswell.... It might happen more often with all 3 big Hoyo games because of this sadly :/

[@knucklessammich3875]

To be fair that was before all of this and as far as we know he just left

[@tamalemuncher789]

@@knucklessammich3875 Other VAs have left in the games aswell before this. Look at huohuo and soukaku for starters lol. Idk what they've done/are doing, but something is up.

[@hugrid9647]

I hate how AI showed up, doesn't even help in any way, people use it to steal other's hard work, then artists lose their jobs. I hate AI, it would've been better if it was never given to the public, from the very beginning it's use was only meant to be immoral

[@RedUmbre]

"and now we have wrong sounding muppets"

[@ipgvallarta]

Many here are indifferent, suggesting the use of another dub language and so on, just because the problem does not affect their livelihoods. Much like the peole of Inazuma on the Vision Hunt Decree. Perfect analogy.

[@Jr-shiungHu]

Just like the incident, it took someone with power to change the decree, though not alone traveler had power and influence. We are the civilian who won't be able to fully comprehend or support the campaign without mis-representating

[@trashaimgamer7822]

Guess I'll have to wait until I can continue the archon quest huh...

[@Lennis01]

There's no indication from Hoyo whether the Archon quest is going to be re-released with the English voices or not. I'm leaning toward "not", since Archon quests have never been repeatable on an account. We'll have to monitor this situation closely.

[@T--------]

@@Lennis01but man they are really important and being voiced is part of their appeal, I'd say there's a chance because there's already been cases of dialogue being rewritten and rerecorded I'm almost certain, when i was going through the sumeru quest a couple months ago i wanted to check some dialogue i didn't pay much attention to and when looking it up on a youtube vid from when it released some words were definitely changed and rerecorded, so it seems to me that they care enough about the quality of the archon quest to actively changed things about it after release, I'm hopeful at least so long as this doesn't continue for like 6+ more months god forbid as that would be an absurd amount of dialogue to record

[@floridianliau35]

I currently switch to JP dub and will continue to play in that dub until the strike is over. This is only applying for my Genshin playthrough, not the other miHoYo games. Once the strike is over, I will switch back to ENG dub.

[@lavenoustwitch5419]

Great job bringing this to peoples' attention! Allowing AI to recreate voices from actors is a slippery slope into a very odd and bleak future for all forms of media, not just games. I've already noticed TONS of AI voices used on tv, radio, and youtube ads. It sucks

[@boredminecrafter7822]

Im over here waiting for a Federal Law to pass in the U.S. to regulate AI use in Companies as it is a breach of personal identity, people's rights, social security, public health, HIPAA, and civil codes when it is used to identify a person who exist that did not give consent.

[@tempertenchi]

very well said!! its so sad this even has to be a strike.. like just stop trying to replace real hard working human beings with AI.. also I just wanted to mention Beau Bridgland is male and uses he/him pronouns! he's really sweet in his streams, and the few emails we've had haha

[@lazy_termite]

I'm pretty sure the use of voices for ai-generation could be negotiated and contracts could be updated accordingly.