Dispatch Developers Take Strong Stance Against AI Voice Acting in Gaming

"Maybe AI is a creative solution if you aren't a creative person" - Dispatch devs take a firm, refreshing stance against AI

Dispatch developer AdHoc has no interest in using AI to replace voice actors or game development. AI is still a hot topic within the gaming community, with many developers using the technology in their own releases. However, AdHoc has no intention to use AI for its own games, especially not when it comes to voice acting. AdHoc's creative director Nick Herman and executive producer Michael Choung recently sat down with Eurogamer's sister site GamesIndustry.biz to chat all things Dispatch. The studio's episodic superhero workplace comedy has been a hit since its release earlier this year, with many (myself included) praising Dispatch's voice cast for elevating the experience. The cast includes Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad fame, as well as The Last of Us and James Bond actor Jeffrey Wright as retired superhero Chase, among others. So, where does AI come into it? Well, speaking on Wright's performance as Chase earlier this month, Herman stated: "No AI is going to do what he did." "He brought something to that character that we weren't expecting," Herman continued. "I mean, his performance and Aaron's performance and our whole cast are bringing performances and elevating the material in a way that you're just not going to get [with AI]. You're not going to be surprised because it's built on something you've heard before if you go the AI route. "So, yeah, honestly, AI feels like a production solution, not a creative one. Maybe it's a creative one if you aren't creative." "Whatever we're building, it has to connect," Choung added. "It's got to be made by people. It's got to connect to people. We're looking at AI, we're monitoring the stuff that AI is doing, like everybody else. But... it seems to be having a lot of trouble trying to get to a 'good enough' spot. And 'good enough' for us is the enemy. "Also we're not getting up every morning and talking to ourselves like, 'hey, what if we did this with less people? What's the lowest number of people we can use to make this thing?' This is like not anything that we're too concerned with!" The developers added they aren't going to judge others for their own use of AI, and they can "speak for themselves" should they feel it necessary to do so. But, for AdHoc, AI, "right now, it just doesn't make a ton of sense". Earlier this year, AdHoc announced Dispatch had sold over 1m copies in just 10 days. Thanks to this success, the studio is now considering a second season (perhaps one with more sex scenes, given the "ravenous" response to the first season).

As Arc Raiders faces backlash for its AI voices, Dispatch leads call the tech "a production solution, not a creative one," saying it can only offer "something you've heard before"

He praises Dispatch's cast for "elevating the material in a way that you're just not going to get [with AI]" Dispatch's creative director Nick Herman and executive producer Michael Choung have spoken out about the use of AI voices in games. The episodic superhero adventure game uses well-known actors to voice its characters, including Jeffrey Wright from Westworld and Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad. Arc Raiders has come under fire for the use of AI voices via text-to-speech, though Embark Studios co-founder Stefan Strandberg justifies the decision saying, "there's no end goal in replacing any actors." In an interview with GI.biz, when asked for his opinion on the use of AI voices, Herman says, "AI feels like a production solution, not a creative one. Maybe it's a creative one if you aren't creative." Herman isn't just dunking on AI because it's the current trendy thing to do. He explains why he thinks using voice actors is so important. "No AI is going to do what [Jeffrey Wright] did," says Herman. "He brought something to that character that we weren't expecting." He further praises the whole cast for "elevating the material in a way that you're just not going to get [with AI]," explaining that you'll "only hear something you've heard before if you go the AI route." Choung adds that the studio is "monitoring the stuff that AI is doing", but says the technology struggles to reach "good enough," adding further that "'good enough' for us is the enemy." Choung even hits back at studios that are trying to reduce the number of people it needs to hire in order to make its games. "We're not getting up every morning and talking to ourselves like, 'hey, what if we did this with less people? What's the lowest number of people we can use to make this thing?' This is like not anything that we're too concerned with," he says. Despite this, he doesn't want to "sit here and judge" Embark for the decision it has made. "For us... [using AI voices] just doesn't make a ton of sense."