As AI is being integrated into many facets and functions of our lives, some sectors are feeling the heat more than others. In research conducted with John Oestmann, George Martin and Dr Susannah Emery, RMIT music expert Dr Sam Whiting, has spoken with professionals across the games industry to understand the effects of generative AI (GenAI) on workers’ outlooks and career projection.
“Many are contract workers without ongoing employment, and for some game companies already feeling the squeeze, supplementing voice acting work with GenAI is just too tempting,” he says.
Audio professionals across the board already deal with precarious employment and can lack strong employment protections, so the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of automation presents not as a friend but a threatening foe. Budget constraints and overall contraction in the Australian games sector is increasing pressure on workflows, and where elements like voice acting, music and sound design, can be expedited or replaced using GenAI, audio workers in the Australian games sector are feeling a push toward the chopping block.
“The ability to replace such skills with automation may lead to siloing and a deterioration of greater professional collaboration,” Whiting says.
Read: AI in the creative industries: 4 predictions for 2025
Concerns and compromise
From his interviews, Whiting found that participants also held concerns about the ethicality of Gen AI, specifically its training and licensing. As a general consensus, Whiting’s research participants believe that fair compensation and credit should be appointed to the creators of all content used to train AI data bases.
“An ‘opt-in’ licensing model has been proposed by unions as a compromise. This states a creator’s data should only be used for training GenAI under an opt-in basis, and the use of content to train generative AI models should be subject to consent and compensation,” Whiting says.
Artificial Intelligence looms over creative industries where audio professionals like voice actors are feeling pessimistic. To regain balance, attention and support must be bolstered into the creative careers of the gaming sector.
Read the working paper: ‘Musical automation in the Australian games industry: current perspectives’
