Voice actors are angry about the usage of their AI generated voices in NSFW and explicit Skyrim mods.
Skyrim is one of the most successful games of the last decade and has gathered a dedicated community. Additionally, it's one of the most modded games of all time, with daily releases of new mods. So, it shouldn't be a surprise for you that there are also several NSFW mods available.
Now a Twitter user has published a list of voice actors, whose voices were used by modders in pornographic mods using AI deepfakes. Here is everything you need to know about this topic.
Voice Actors Angry About AI Deepfakes
That a lot of things are possible with the new technical advancements in AI is nothing new. And that AI's are used to create not safe for work material (NSFW) is nothing new as well. The trend of creating and publishing deepfakes will be a big problem in the upcoming years.
Now this whole topic has reached the Skyrim modding scene as several mods were released, using AI generated voices of well known voice actors. Some of these mods implement pornographic content into the game. Twitter user "Robbie92_" has recently releases a list with voice actors names, that were abused by the modding community for pornographic content.
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Robbie calls himself a "member of the Skyrim modding scene", which mainly distribute their mods via the popular side nexusmods.com
With the rise of AI voice cloning, voice actors are being abused by the modding communities. As a member of the Skyrim modding scene, I am deeply concerned at the practice of using AI voice cloning to create and distribute non-consensual deepfake pornographic content. pic.twitter.com/ySUFqrtjH0
— Robbie (@Robbie92_) July 1, 2023
In his post, Robbie describes the current situation as followed:
The list of voice actors and actresses below have all lended their talents to various Elder Scrolls Games (Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim), helping to bring the game world we love to life. Their performances have been nefariously repurposed, fed into AI cloning tools ("ElevenLabs"), and used to create deepfake voice clips of these performers reciting explicit dialogue that is pornographic in nature
In the statement, you can see the list of voice actors and actress, which voices were used to produce the named content. According to Robbie, the list is "by no means complete or exhaustive". His post ends with advises on how to contact nexusmods.com about these mods.
The National Association of Voice Actors React
The National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA) reacted to this post with an own statement on Twitter. Condemning the usage of AI generated voices for explicit material and mods. Also, the comment contains a call to action for Skyrim's developers Bethesda and mother company ZeniMax for support.
Please read. The damage to voice actors and companies by AI and synthetic voices is real and tangible. @BethesdaStudios @ZeniMax_Online the voice actors don't have the legal ability to fight this, but you can help. Thank you,
Please read. The damage to voice actors and game companies by AI and synthetic voices is real and tangible. @BethesdaStudios @ZeniMax_Online the voice actors don't have the legal ability to fight this but you can help. Thank you. https://t.co/kgbwqqIB98
— NAVA (@NAVAVOICES) July 5, 2023
It will be interesting to see if and how Bethesda is going to react to this situation and the call for help. And if some of the named voice actors and actresses will take action against the modding community. It's safe to say that this won't be the last time, that we hear from deepfakes for explicit content in video games. AI is the future, with all the positive and negative effects and outcomes.
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