ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS HERE TO STAY

I had the most interesting conversation with a friend who was concerned about the effect of artificial intelligence on Voiceover work, and how that would affect my career.

I have to admit, I sort of chuckled. AI is big deal, and everyone is wondering where it is going to lead us.

Is artificial intelligence a factor for the Voiceover business?

Of course it is! There are some elements of our business that AI voiceover work can mimic. And if that is a genre that you work in, yes, you should be concerned!

But frankly, AI is not going to be a factor for the major part of Voiceover work.

Here is my response to my friend.

Voices are instruments.

Each voice is a part of an orchestra or symphony.

I’m on the low timber of instruments. Maybe a tuba or a baritone, or even a string double bass (Yeah! That’d be cool!).

Here’s the thing about AI. It can mimic a voice or an instrument, but it cannot mimic the interpretation of that passage. It cannot mimic emotion. Oh, I realize some people say that it’s just a matter of time. But that’s exactly what they said about the Moog synthesizer.

And last I checked, there aren’t that many people attending digital music concerts. Although ironically, live musicians have learned how to incorporate such instruments into their performances.

Timing, pacing, rhythm, interpretation, emotion, feeling, connection, all of those things factor into good voiceover work.

So is AI a threat for you? It is, if you do not know how to provide everything that AI cannot!

Let me explain it this way.

AI is like meatloaf.

Please forgive my disdain for meatloaf. And no, I’ve never tasted yours and frankly I hope I never will. Meatloaf is of the devil.

You can cook up a glob of ground beef and call it meatloaf. But you know what it is…ground beef. Just plain ol’ nasty ground fat beef. Oh, I know some of you use different kinds of meat. But the basis of meatloaf is a glob of ground up beef.

So you doctor it. You add other kinds of meat. You add all kinds of mathematical formulas of spices. You check the planets and moons to see when the perfect time is to slather it with catsup, or BBQ sauce, or mayonnaise, or whatever.

You know why you doctor it?

Because it’s nasty ground up fat beef!

That’s what AI is to the VO world. It’s just another synthetic sound recipe.

Is it a threat? Yes, to some.

But the reality is that it’s just another voice talent, albeit an electronic one, that is vying for your job.

You wanna beat AI? Give your client more than another glob of AI voice ground up beef.

And for those of you who think this article was about meatloaf… :)

I actually hate meatloaf, but I love people who are passionate about it. My dad would rather have eaten meatloaf than steak.

I don’t know how he’s faring in heaven without meatloaf.

Anyway, I know AI is here to stay and I am not about to let it beat me out of a job or an audition.