Anger from voice actors as NSFW mods use AI deepfakes to replicate their voices: 'This is NOT okay' | PC Gamer

An image of the Dragonborn from Skyrim, staring into the camera with glowing eyes. — (Image credit: Bethesda)

Update: I spoke with Robbie92_, the creator of the list and member of the Skyrim modding community. You can find his response below.

The Tweet reads: With the rise of AI voice cloning, voice actors are being abused by the modding communities. As a member of the Skyrim modding scene, I am deeply concerned at the practice of using AI voice cloning to create and distribute non-consensual deepfake pornographic content. — (Image credit: @Robbie92_ on Twitter.)

These actors include April Stewart, who in addition to multiple characters in Skyrim, is the voice of Petra Venj in Destiny 2 and Jessamine Kaldwin in Dishonoured 2; Jon Curry, who voiced Zevran in Dragon Age: Origins; and Susan Eisenberg, who has voiced Wonder Woman in both animation and video games since 2001.

The National Association of Voice Actors tweeted in response: "The damage to voice actors and game companies by AI and synthetic voices is real and tangible," proceeding to tag both Bethesda Studios and Zenimax Online, writing: "voice actors don't have the legal ability to fight this, but you can help."

The wider voice acting community has also rallied to decry the mods. Linsay Rousseau of Transformers: War for Cybertron, Deathloop, and Fallout 76 quote tweeted: "Voice Actors don't consent to this. If you're using these mods, you're stealing & abusing our work."

Jennifer Hale, voice of Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect Series, also tweeted: "to make this CRYSTAL clear: if you do not have written permission to use my voice, you DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION to use my voice, including AI use."

Meanwhile Abbey Veffer, who voices a host of characters in The Elder Scrolls Online and Genshin Impact, wrote: "I do not, and never will, consent to my voice being used for AI synthesis, cloning, deepfakes, etc. This is NOT okay."

Robbie92_ has also been doing considerable work via a google document to assemble a list of mods "that use AI cloning to produce non-consensual pornographic content" for the purposes of spreading awareness and reporting them, an exhaustive task that April Stewart thanked them for. "The Google doc was particularly helpful when I contacted my agent and also requested the content be taken down."

I reached out to Robbie92_, who is known in the wider modding community as _Robbie. "I became invested when the community let me down. We had an opportunity to self-police, to do the right thing, and we failed. Instead, the community cheered it on for the sake of our own amusement," _Robbie wrote to me in an email.

"My goal was only to make a few specific people aware. I never expected the whole VO community to pick up that tweet. It is extremely humbling," he then went on to express a deep relief that the tweet had been picked up by the wider voice acting world. "They are the affected parties, they are the ones who matter, and they had no idea they were being abused in this way. My goal was to make a few specific people aware, and now, the whole VO community knows."

Voice actors clearly shouldn't have to spend hours of their day browsing Nexus Mods just to protect themselves, and I can't even imagine the amount of time, money, and labour that would need to be poured into fighting this kind of AI use en-masse, and Nexus Mods' current attitude towards AI-generated work on their platform doesn't make matters easier.

They've stated these mods "may be removed if we receive a credible complaint from an affected creator/rights holder", but considering there's an entire live document dedicated to tracking these things, I can't see that being a satisfying solution for anybody involved.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.