[deepsun]

> voice actors are fearing that the ability for generative AI to replicate their voices may cost them work

I'm not sure how to feel about that. I'm against the idea that some people "deserve" being paid for being lucky born with an interesting voice.

On the other hand, the world always worked like that. And, say, hard-working farmer or doctor were also lucky being born with necessary traits to make for their living, while others weren't.

[minimaxir]

Voice acting is more than just talking into a microphone. It's a skill not limited to the quality of voice.

[deepsun]

A lot of skills are not simple, but computers have taken over them anyways. For example, financial bookkeeping is not just writing and storing the books, it's a professional skill with many tricks to learn. However, databases and spreadsheets have taken the major part from those jobs. Same could be said about programmers who learned the skill of programming Assembly language. Or performing -- vinyl records and CDs has largely taken over orchestras and traveling musicians.

I would vote for it only if it somehow encouraged voice actors to experiment and create new interesting styles. Kinda like patents were designed to do -- encourage inventors (although recently it became controversial in IT world).

[bugglebeetle]

Yes, everyone has a voice. The amount of people who can convincingly act with said voice is remarkably small and requires a good deal of innate ability or training, generally both.

[vunderba]

You could have made that argument more effectively in the past when voice actors had to be able to mimic multiple voices (Dan Castlenetta, Mel Blanc, etc.). Nowadays, we're seeing more and more shows where the voices of the characters are just... the normal voice of the voice actor.

Of course it's not totally devoid of skill, you need to be able to emote, inflect, and convey emotion, but the bar is far far lower.

[fomine3]

I argue that emote is more important skill than switching multiple voice character, though latter contributes get more jobs

[vasco]

> that some people "deserve" being paid for being lucky born with an interesting voice

Majority of success is attained like this though. Athletes paid for being born strong tall and fast, models paid for being pretty, rich families being paid for being born rich, smart people being paid for being born smart, or hardworking, etc. It's the most dominant factor everywhere.