by theygamesLast week in videogames, we saw two actors from HoYoverse’s Zenless Zone Zero replaced outright, allegedly a result of their involvement in the ongoing SAF-AFTRA strikes. Then we saw Baldur’s Gate 3’s Neil Newbon launch The Pixel Pack, a collective of triple-A VAs who have banded together to remind the world that “game actors are actors.” The headline image, coordinated as part of a deep dive from Entertainment Weekly, includes everyone from icons like Matt Mercer and Troy Baker, to Newbon’s Baldur’s Gate 3 co-stars. It oozes power and defiance. But for Masumi, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is her videogame debut, so in an exclusive interview I asked her about her views on AI voiceover.
Cast as Naoe, the stealth game‘s resident ninja, Masumi is primarily known for her role as Akemi in 2021 action movie Yakuza Princess – a slight departure from the feudal Japan we see in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. I’ve spoken to her at length about transplanting her pre-existing skills into a role that she describes as “a full-body workout,” but, if AI really is the future, there might not be a need for voice actors at all.
I ask her about her thoughts on AI, especially given her multi-faceted creative background. While she admits that, in many ways, she’s “a little scared,” she sees the rise in AI as a challenge that’ll push artists to work even harder. AI, she believes, will bring out the best of the human spirit: a blessing from an apparent curse.
“I don’t think AI can take away our creative voices,” she tells me. “Creative voices are so, so powerful. The more prominent AI becomes, the more we realize how powerful our voices and creative expressions are.
“There’s a part of me that’s a little scared because it’s an unknown and there’s not a lot of regulations around it yet,” she admits. “But a part of me is excited because I feel like this sort of challenge is going to connect us to our human creativity even more, and make us want to express it even more. That’s how we can hold power.”
If you’re planning on picking up the next installment in Ubisoft’s age-old RPG series, we have a rundown of the best Assassin’s Creed Shadows builds, as well as a list of all the Assassin’s Creed Shadows quests.
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