Deus Ex Voice Actor Condemns AI-Generated Voice Mod for Cyberpunk 2077

Deus Ex Voice Actor Says 'Do Not F***ing' Use AI To Add Adam Jensen To Other Games - Kotaku

Elias Toufexis really doesn't want fans using AI generation tools to recreate his beloved Deus Ex character Starfield and Deus Ex voice actor Elias Toufexis has a very simple message to anyone thinking of using AI-powered mods to add characters he has played to other games: Don't do that, actually. It's a topic the actor has spoken about before, and one he is extremely passionate about. In early July, a user on Twitter posted that people should download a mod that replaces the main character's voice in Cyberpunk 2077 with that of Adam Jensen, the protagonist of the two most recent Deus Ex games, using AI. They also suggested customizing the main character to look like the Deus Ex character. They claimed that if you took these steps, it would turn CD Projekt Red's 2020 open-world RPG into a "pretty convincing" Deus Ex game. A month later, on August 2, this tweet came to the attention of Jensen's voice actor, Toufexis, and he had a simple, clear reply to this idea: "No. Do not fucking do that." The voice replacement mod for Cyberpunk 2077 mentioned in the original tweet was uploaded to the internet in October 2023. Its creator states that they mean no disrespect to Toufexis and claims that if the voice actor ever reached out to them and demanded it be removed, the modder would comply. "I would never want someone to feel like I'm robbing them of their right to own and dictate when or how their voice is to be used," explained the modder. It's not clear if Toufexis has reached out to the modder yet. Adam Jensen appeared in 2011's Deus Ex: Human Revolution and its 2016 sequel, Mankind Divided. The brooding cyborg badass became famous for his raspy, deep voice and has remained a fan favorite. Toufexis loves talking about the character, so much so that he was told to stop by series developers Edios Montreal in 2020. In 2024, a new, unannounced Deus Ex game was reportedly canceled by Embracer Group. This is far from the first time Toufexis has spoken about AI generation tools being used to replace voice actors. In a 2023 interview with Kotaku, Jensen's iconic voice actor called AI a "tool that steals from other people's work." “I honestly feel that AI cannot replace real actors in the long run," said Toufexis. "But it can take away a whole slew of jobs that normally go to actors. Big roles like Sam [from Starfield] are probably safe. AI is just a tool that steals from other people’s work and tries to create reality. But it’s not reality, and I believe people will know the difference and want the real thing. But it may take some time. I look at it like NFTs or 3D TVs. There will be a little while where people fool around with the new tech, but eventually they’ll realize how fake it is.†He also explained that if he catches people using AI to recreate his voice for profit or promotion, he'll ask them to stop. If they do, that will be the end of it. However, if they continue, he'll go after them, telling Kotaku in 2023: "We have to protect actors from replacement. It’s a dangerous slope. If my voice can be replaced, that is almost literally leading to taking food out of my kids’ mouths. This is a huge part of my livelihood."

"Do not f****ing do that": Deus Ex actor reacts to Cyberpunk 2077 mod using AI to add Adam Jensen's voice, and it isn't pretty

Actor Elias Toufexis has been outspoken about AI recreations of his performances In the time since Deus Ex was put out to pasture by Square Enix following the release of Mankind Divided, things haven't gotten much more hopeful. The IP - along with developer Eidos Montreal - was sold to Embracer Group, which was then followed by rumours of a new entry being developed. Then, a bit later, we got confirmation that it was real, unfortunately paired with the news that the game had been cancelled. Cyberpunk 2077 did show up in the meantime, and has lessened the blow of Deus Ex being gone for good for some people, but for others it's not enough, and they're taking to other means. However, in response to someone suggesting to play Cyberpunk 2077 with an AI-generated Adam Jensen voice instead of V's original voice actor, Gavin Drea, Adam Jensen's voice actor Elias Toufexis (who was most recently in Starfield and set to appear in the now-cancelled Perfect Dark reboot) gave a succinct response: "No. Do not fucking do that." Of course, the GenAI mod is built from Toufexis' performance as Jensen, with the actor having called this type of thing "theft" in the past. But even when you ignore the ramifications of taking an actor's performance and using it for this, it's just pretty lame, isn't it? It's one thing to have some bad-sounding Peter Griffin voice model talk about some historical event for a dumb TikTok, or getting Plankton from SpongeBob to sing Chappell Roan (with both sucking, too), but playing an entire game with an AI voice model replacing the original actor's own lines is another. V, as a character, is also nothing like Adam Jensen - his voice hardly fits the character.