‘A real slap in the face’: ‘Metal Gear Solid 2’ fans recognize the irony of its voice actor battling AI replacements

A voice actor who played a colonel that was replaced with a rogue AI is now complaining about people recreating his voice using AI without his permission, and the irony is not lost on Metal Gear Solid fans.

For any fan of the franchise, it was a spine-chilling and unforgettable moment at the end of 2001’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty when the protagonist’s boss, Colonel Campbell, turned out to be an AI replacement who started going haywire. “Turn the game console off right now,” he would bark through distorted transmissions as eerie music played. Now, that famous plot twist seems to be unfolding in real life, to an extent. 

Paul Eiding, the actor who played Colonel Campbell, has now slammed certain content creators for replicating the timbre of his voice using AI tools, IGN reported. Eiding took to Twitter to voice his concern:

“If you do not have written permission to use my voice, you DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION to use my voice, including AI use. Doing so is a violation of my legal rights and a real slap in the face.”

As sympathetic as we are to Eiding’s situation, that did not stop fans from riffing on the jaw-dropping irony of it all, as if the game predicted the future.

This isn’t the first time Metal Gear Solid has arguably predicted the future, too. In Sons of Liberty alone, the game’s plot about AI controlling the flow of information predicted the rise of “junk data,” as the game called it, in which the internet now gives every crackpot theory an equally loud megaphone to spout their nonsense. The stealth action classic also predicted the wide use of military drones through its depiction of devices in the game called “Cyphers.”

To take it back to a serious note, we really are sorry to hear Eiding’s copyrighted likeness, in audio form, is being exploited. With a little Googling, we were able to determine the actor actually has a Cameo account. So if you really want to use his voice for something, we recommend going that route, since it’s pretty reasonably priced and you can customize the message for your purposes. Plus, Eiding is highly rated and listed as “highly responsive” on the platform. If you’re a fan of Eiding, why not show him some support through the official channels? Until next time, Colonel.