OG ‘Metal Gear’ cast stands in ‘Solid’-arity to battle AI voice theft

Solid Snake himself, David Hayter, and Jennifer Hale — two legacy voice actors from the Metal Gear Solid game franchise — have reunited to join co-cast member Paul Eiding in their collective condemnation of the use of AI to replicate their voices.

Hale, who plays geneticist Naomi Hunter in the stealth action series, took to Twitter to say in part: “[T]o use my voice in AI in ANY context (including free/fan content) is forbidden without my express written consent. [A]lso there are VERY few instances I will consent to until all our rights are protected.”

Hayter, who played the titular spy protagonist in many of the Metal Gear Solid games, quote-tweeted Hale while adding a similar message:  “Same here. Do not steal other people’s voices.”

This all follows from a statement made earlier this week by co-star Eiding, who plays Colonel Campbell in the games. In fact, Hale’s initial tweet was a word-for-word repost of Eiding’s message. I am pointing this out not to accuse Hale of plagiarizing Eiding, but rather, that it shows solidarity with her co-star on the issue. 

Ironically, an AI voice duplicate was used as a plot element in one of the games, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. In the game, Snake accepts a mission because he hears the voice of his former mentor, whom he thought he killed in a previous mission, on a cassette recording. But it turned out that The Boss really was dead and that the voice Snake heard on the tape was an AI replication of her voice to lure the soldier into a trap.

In the broader context of Hollywood, a strike may be imminent with the Screen Actors Guild, of whom some members include video game performers, according to SAG-AFTRA’s website. AI has been zeroed in on as one prominent aspect of the ongoing discussions, according to Deadline, so it’s no wonder voice actors who work in such a field would like to raise awareness about the issue.

Like Eiding, both Hale and Hayter have highly-rated Cameo accounts, in which you can pay the actors a nominal fee to have them record a video saying something that you can write for them (within reason). So we would recommend going through that route if you truly want to use their voice for something. That way, we can perhaps narrowly stave off the techno-nightmare of a future that Hideo Kojima envisioned in his games.