The French voices of Titeuf, Morgan Freeman, Homer and Marge Simpson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Brad Pitt challenge the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati on the risks posed by the use of AI on their profession.
“The substitution of humans by machines is a danger for culture.” Many voice actors are warning this Tuesday, May 21 about the threats that artificial intelligence represents for their profession. Brigitte Lecordier (French voice of Oui-Oui and Goku), Benoît Allemane (Morgan Freeman), Philippe Peythieu (Homer Simpson) and several of their colleagues challenge the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati.
“If artificial intelligence replaces us, it will no longer be our voices, human voices, that you will hear in the films, but the voices of robots which will have been generated by the theft of our voices,” they warn in a video went viral in a few hours on social networks.
“Culture is in danger, because AI will no longer invent anything!” they plead.
“So that dubbing in France remains a cultural exception”
“Anyone can use it for increasingly credible scams, by usurping, for example, your identity,” the actors also point out, while the number of “deepfakes” has been increasing for several months. “Great dubbing implies great responsibilities,” says Donald Reignoux (Spiderman, Titeuf).
Those who rocked the childhoods of millions of French people through their work claim that more than 15,000 jobs could be threatened and ask their public for help. “You who are attached to our voices, help us to make them heard by our Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, so that dubbing in France remains a cultural exception,” they say.
The artists share a petition addressed to the minister, already signed by more than 40,000 people. Coincidentally, this punchy video that went viral was published while actress Scarlett Johansson accused the company OpenAI of having copied her voice to make one of ChatGPT.
In the United States, the fight against artificial intelligence was at the heart of actors’ demands during the historic strike in Hollywood. The agreement signed by the unions after several months of struggle authorizes studios to use AI, but several safeguards are in place to protect the status of actors.
