French Apex Legends Voice Actors Unanimously Reject AI Training Agreement, Risking Jobs

Apex Legends' entire French cast of voice actors risk jobs in AI dispute

The entire French cast of multiplayer shooter Apex Legends has refused to sign an agreement that would allow their voices to train generative AI, risking their jobs in the process. Pascale Chemin, the voice of Wraith, shared a statement on social media (translated on ResetEra) detailing the situation, and while Apex isn't directly mentioned, the other voice actors from the game are all tagged accordingly. In the post, Chemin explained how the cast received an annex to their agreement directly from the publisher (presumably EA), which needed to be accepted before work could continue. This concerned training generative AI. "These terms weren't acceptable," wrote Chemin. "I was now forced to give up the role I had been working on for almost six years. In no way could I force the rest of the casting members to do the same, but one thing was certain: if we all refused, it could maybe have an impact. Otherwise, it would have been in vain." The whole cast unanimously rejected the agreement. "We wrote a collective letter of refusal that we sent to the publisher and are waiting for an answer," said Chemin. "If we aren't united now so that a clause that protects our voices can be officially added in our contracts - and not just for us here, but for every video game dubbing studio - we'll never get one and we'll be heading for a disaster." Chemin described refusing to work as "nonsensical" when there is so little available and many actors are struggling for money. "But we aren't simply asked to work," she continued. "We are asked to give up our expertise to train the generative AI that will replace us tomorrow. We are asked to agree to what we specifically fight against. We are asked to shoot ourselves in the foot. We are asked to support AI." Eurogamer has contacted EA for a response. The use of generative AI is growing rapidly throughout the industry in all sorts of areas. EA in particular has over a hundred AI projects to assist development, with CEO Andrew Wilson stating last year AI is "the very core of our business". One example of this shown was a forthcoming hub coming to The Sims that will include AI-powered discovery through photo-based searching, or the ability to create Sims based on a photo. Yet the use of generative AI in voice acting specifically is of huge concern to the acting community. It's the key reason US actors' union SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July last year, predominantly due to a dispute over the exploitative use of AI. Chemin's post is a prime example of this AI use, which many actors believe is not suitably safeguarded against. Jennifer Hale (Mass Effect, Bayonetta 3) spoke with Eurogamer earlier this year to explain why the SAG-AFTRA strike remains ongoing. "It's a huge issue for all of us and the repercussions are vast," she said. "So to me, it makes sense that everyone needs to take their time. As performers - and we saw this in the writers strike and the theatrical contract strike - we're just the canary in the coal mine. "The producers who actually do the work with us, they want to get back to work and they are open to having really productive conversations. I think the people in the room who are representing a more large-scale corporate interest, their priority is profit protection in the future, which means leaving all the options open. But what I'm not sure they understand is that leaving those options open leaves performers in great jeopardy."

Over 30 Apex Legends voice actors refuse to sign an agreement that would see them 'give up our expertise to train the generative AI that will replace us tomorrow'

The turmoil that AI (specifically, generative AI) has caused in the voice acting industry continues to rage -- while an ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike proceeds apace in the US, it seems like gaming companies are continuing to fumble the bag in other territories. Like EA, who has very likely asked the French cast of Apex Legends to train AI that would, invariably, replace them. That's as per voice actor Pascale Chemin (Wraith) who, in a post to Instagram (translated here by ResetEra user Rouk') has been given an offer she, and 31 of her colleagues, can absolutely refuse. It should be noted that Chemin has not confirmed that this agreement came from EA, or that it's for Apex Legends, but it's the game her tagged colleagues all share in common. The 6-year-long role she later cites also aligns with the release date of Apex Legends, which came out in 2019 -- and launched with the character she voice acts. "The studio sent me (and the 31 other VA in the casting) a [email] containing an annex of confidentiality and handover directly from the publisher. I needed to accept these terms before being able to go to work. I thought so when I read through them and a legal expert specialised in audiovisual confirmed it: These terms weren't acceptable. "I was now forced to give up the role I had been working on for almost six years. In no way could I force the rest of the casting members to do the same, but one thing was certain: If we all refused, it could maybe have an impact. Otherwise, it would have been in vain." However, it seems like collective action won out, as Chemin claims: "Without any hesitation, the 31 other VAs all refused to sign this annex. We wrote a collective letter of refusal that we sent to the publisher and are waiting for an answer. If we aren't united now so that a clause that protects our voices can be officially added in our contracts -- and not just for us here, but for every video game dubbing studio -- we'll never get one, and we'll be heading for a disaster." The implication, it seems, is that EA was asking the game's French cast to allow their voices to be used to train generative AI -- the kind that could be used to replace them. "We aren't simply asked to work. We are asked to give up our expertise to train the generative AI that will replace us tomorrow. We are asked to agree to what we specifically fight against. We are asked to shoot ourselves in the foot. We are asked to support AI." Chemin later wrote on X (via machine translation): "Video game publishers want to force their way through. But to accept would be to give up, in the short term, our profession, it would be to accept being replaced by a machine." I've contacted EA for comment -- but given the public support by Chemin's contemporaries, and EA's literal stated aims to use AI "as quickly as possible", I'm personally willing to take this at face value. In which case, I am both very tired and not particularly surprised. Last October, EA CEO Andrew Wilson stated, rather ominously, that "large systematic change is required" after the game didn't hit its microtransaction targets. While I'm sure EA -- and many other publishers who care primarily about the line going up -- would stand to gain via short-term savings, by no longer needing to pay its voice actors, this whole thing is just... tremendously short-sighted. Any time a company needs to save money in our modern era of game development, it seems institutional knowledge and long-held voice talent is the first to go. Even putting aside the ethical concerns (which you shouldn't, obviously) AI voicework is generally unappealing to listen to even when it's higher-fidelity than the alternative. The genuine heart and soul put into performances like Neil Newbon's Astarion can't be replaced by a prompt. Is shaving off margins for your next quarter really worth permanently making your game sound like a cheap plastic imitation of itself? In the world of shareholders, maybe, but for everyone else -- the AI enshittification continues.