Ashly Burch Shuts Down Fears of AI Taking Over Voice Acting in Horizon Series: “not going to happen”

Ashly Burch, who voices Aloy in the Horizon series, recently addressed growing concerns about AI possibly taking over voice acting in games. Her comments come after a leaked video earlier this year showed an AI-powered version of Aloy answering questions.

The clip, which featured a Sony employee chatting with the AI character, made fans wonder if studios were planning to use AI instead of real actors.

Burch later confirmed that this demo wasn’t part of any actual Horizon project. Speaking with Eurogamer, she explained that Sony didn’t use any of her past voice work in the AI clip and that the developers had already spoken to her to clear up confusion.

She’s not completely against using AI in game development, though. Burch believes it can help make things easier behind the scenes. “If we used artificial intelligence to help with cleanup between the mo-cap stage and importing it into the actual game engine, that could be amazing,” she said. In her view, AI can be useful for speeding up the process—but not for replacing real performances.

She raised some concerns about studios using AI to recreate her voice in a way that players can interact with endlessly. Burch said she would want strong protections in place, especially to avoid her voice being used to say something offensive or inappropriate. She pointed to an earlier case where AI was used to mimic James Earl Jones’ voice in Fortnite, which some people misused to make Darth Vader say things he shouldn’t.

For Burch, how AI is used really matters. “It becomes a conversation of what do you want to use this for,” she said, adding that it depends on whether the goal is to replace actors or just help with development tasks. She doesn’t see her current studio, Guerrilla Games, going down the path of replacing people with AI. “A universe where Guerrilla just replaces every single actor they have with a robot is not going to happen,” she said firmly.

She also spoke about how AI could affect new actors trying to break into the industry. Many of them start with smaller roles, like short voice lines in multiplayer games. Burch said those jobs are important for beginners to earn money and build experience. She’s worried that AI might take away those stepping-stone roles. “It’s important to me that actors continue to have the opportunity to act,” she said.

In short, Burch sees some benefits in using AI for game development, but only if it helps real people do their jobs, not replace them.

In my opinion, it makes sense to be cautious about AI in voice acting. While AI can be helpful, it’s hard to control once it’s out there. I think real human performances still matter, especially in games where emotion and story are key. What do you think? Should AI have a bigger role in game development, or is it too risky for voice acting? Let us know in the comments.