Amid the controversial rise of AI in video game production, Baldur’s Gate 3 voice actor Samantha Béart condemns those in higher-up positions who use it to save an easy buck.
Speaking to Edge, Béart explains why such individuals employ AI – and unsurprisingly, it’s money. “Essentially, [CEOs pushing AI] just want to save money,” says the actor. “In the long term, it’ll destroy their reputation, their company, everything.” As for actors, Béart doesn’t see a world in which they’ll willingly back down despite game companies’ increasing demands for AI – after all, it would effectively cost them their jobs.
“It’s just not going to happen,” continues the actor. “Why would you do it? You’ve just signed your way out of any sort of job or career.” It’s a bad situation all around, as creatives struggle to land roles when those in power prioritize financial gain. “We have an industry of highly artistic people who’ve had a calling to do this stuff, and then you’ve got these people with money, who don’t play games, who see it as an easy way to make a return on investment.”
As Béart puts it, “Those two things are oil and water.” They struggle to work together. “It’s very difficult to negotiate with people on opposite sides of the spectrum. You don’t show up on set and realize as you’re filming that it’s Marvel. You sign an NDA and then they tell you. Whereas in video games, culturally it seems to be they give you an NDA, and then they still don’t tell you what’s going on, which just doesn’t help the performance.”
What tech leads are doing with their own companies for financial gain is what’s happening in games now, too, concludes Béart. “The dream of the tech industry is to sell off your company at an overinflated price and retire. And I feel that’s being done with game studios right now. It’s the same people who worship at the altar of [former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who made loads of money off austerity, before the company tanked after his retirement].”
