Margot Robbie, Morgan Freeman… Their French voices want to be protected against artificial intelligence

CULTURE – The names of Philippe Peythieu (Homer Simpson), Benoît Allemane (Morgan Freeman), Dorothée Pousséo (Margot Robbie) or Emmanuel Curtil (Jim Carrey) may not mean anything to you but you have already heard their voices. No less than 47 actors and voice actresses warn of the danger that artificial intelligence represents for their future in a video published on social networks this Tuesday, May 21.

“Our profession could completely disappear”. It is with this sentence that Brigitte Lecordier, French voice of Son Goku in Dragon Ball, begins his message. The actors warn the spectators because, as they say, “culture is in danger because AI will no longer invent anything”. They are concerned about the lack of emotion displayed by the voices produced by AI.

The actors also warn against theft. The robots are trained and use the voices of the actors “without consent or traceability”. As explained by Bastien Bourlé, French voice actor for Eren Jaeger in the Japanese animated series The attack of the Titans, “AIs are fed all our creations to function”. They remind us that generative artificial intelligence does not only attack dubbing but also all forms of art.

Challenge Rachida Dati

In around twenty hours, the video published on Brigitte Lecordier’s social networks totaled 3.5 million views on Instagram and 1.1 million on X (formerly Twitter). The voice actors are seeking to have their appeal heard by the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati. According to them, artificial intelligence threatens “more than 15,000 jobs: artists, production, sound engineers, artistic direction, authors and adapters”.

With #TouchePasMaVF, the actors want the public authorities to take up the subject. In January 2024, an online petition was launched by the French Union of Performing Artists and the LesVoix association. While it stagnated at around 30,000 signatures a week earlier, the petition now has more than 50,000.

In the United States, the world of cinema had also made people talk about its fear of artificial intelligence. A 118-day strike gripped Hollywood in which the use of AI was one of the sticking points between the unions and the studios. SAG AFTRA, the main American cinema union, obtained the right to negotiate compensation for actors whose image or voice would be used.

In order to avoid a similar situation, French performing artists are therefore calling for regulation on AI “to regulate the development of generative AI in such a way as to protect artists, works, culture and employment”, we can read on the website of the LesVoix association. And as Donald Reignoux, French voice of Spider-Man, recalls: “Great dubbing comes with great responsibilities.”

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