one of the stars of stage musicals Oh mom! Claims her voiceover job for an upcoming BBC production will be replaced by artificial intelligence has caused alarm.
Sara Poyzer posted a screenshot of an email she said was sent to her by a production company working for the BBC, in which she was told hers would no longer be needed Serve.
“Sorry for the delay,” the post read. “We have received approval from the BBC to use AI-generated speech, so we no longer need Sarah.”
Thought provoking…🙁 @EquityUK @bbcarts pic.twitter.com/9D0H928xJZ
— Sara Poyzer (@SaraPoyzer) March 26, 2024
“Sobering,” Poiser captioned the screenshot.
The post caused a huge amount of outrage on
Stand-up comedian Sean Burke wrote: “This is terrible. I rely on VO for my job. You can already hear very convincing AI voices on TikTok, and there’s nothing stopping companies from using it to save money.” Some money. We can’t trust people to do the right thing. Action needs to be taken.”
this is too scary. I rely on VO’s work. You can already hear very convincing AI voices on Tik Tok, and there’s nothing stopping companies from using it to save some money.
We cannot trust people to do the right thing. Action is required. https://t.co/veYO2COIk2
— Sean Burke (@SeanBurkeShow) March 27, 2024
Podcaster and comedian Steve Martin echoed the same sentiment, saying, “Most of my income comes from voice acting. Without it, I would have to choose another career because of the money. It makes me want to explode.” “
Most of my income comes from voice acting. Without it, I would have had to choose another career because of money. This makes me want to explode https://t.co/AaDqtBrYEA
— Steve Martin (@5tevieM) March 27, 2024
Chris Addison, comedian and star its thicknesssimply writing: “Fuck this is so bad. So outrageous.”
Very fucking. That’s outrageous. https://t.co/2PbgKWfsGr
— @mrchrisaddison@dizl.de (@mrchrisaddison) March 27, 2024
Podcaster Blindboy also responded: “I saw a review on YouTube the other day about an AI robot lawn mower that was written and narrated by an AI.”
The other day I saw a review on YouTube about the Ai Robot Lawn Mower, it was written and narrated by Ai https://t.co/MYicNdgJRQ
— Blind Podcast (@bbboatclub) March 28, 2024
The growing impact of artificial intelligence continues to be a major topic in the entertainment industry. Last week, Tennessee approved a new bill to protect musicians from artificial intelligence deepfakes.
The move comes after several U.S. politicians argued that legislation was needed to keep up with advances in artificial intelligence technology after an AI image of Taylor Swift was widely shared on social media in January.
Songwriter Guy Chambers also recently said technology in the music industry is “scary.”
“I think we might get to a point in the future where an album needs to have a badge that says ‘This is a record for all humanity,'” he said. “From what I’ve seen of AI, the acceleration is pretty scary in terms of what it can do and how it can replace songwriters.”
Recently, Bad Bunny went viral for his AI-generated collaboration with Justin Bieber. In addition, ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus said that this technology will be “another very serious and existential challenge” and “will fundamentally change the world of creators and creative industries.”
On the other hand, some artists believe that AI will benefit the creative industries. David Guetta says ‘the future of music is in AI’ after showing off AI-generated Eminem verse on DJ set in February
In other AI news, last month Sophie Ellis-Bextor had to warn fans about recent AI scams featuring her music.