Actor and comedian Hank Azaria, who has voiced The Simpsons since 1989, has expressed concern about the development of artificial intelligence.
Actor and comedian Hank Azaria, who has voiced The Simpsons since 1989, has expressed concern about the development of artificial intelligence.
«I think soon artificial intelligence will be able to reproduce the sounds of more than 100 voices that I have created for the characters of The Simpsons over the course of nearly four decades,» writes Variety, citing The New York Times. The actor said that he was sad to think about it. «Not to mention that it just seems wrong to steal my likeness or sound — or anyone else’s,» he added.
Azaria has provided the voices of dozens of characters on the animated series The Simpsons on Fox since 1989, including bartender Moe and Chef Wiggum.
«In my case, the AI could have access to 36 years of Moe, the perpetually dissatisfied bartender,» the actor said. «He’s been in almost every episode of The Simpsons. He’s been scared, he’s been in love, he’s been hit in the head, and most of the time, he’s been in a state of bitter hatred. I’ve laughed like Moe dozens of times. I’ve probably sighed like Moe 100 times. From an AI training perspective, that’s a lot of work,» Hank Azaria said.
However, the actor noted that it will not be possible to completely replace his voice acting with AI. «How can a computer create all this? What would the lack of humanity sound like? How big a difference would it make? I honestly don’t know, but I think it would be enough, at least in the near term, for us to notice that something is wrong, the same way we notice something is wrong in a movie or a TV show that is not up to standard,» the comedian explains.
He said viewers will feel the unreality of the AI voice. «Believability is earned through craftsmanship, good storytelling and good acting, good cinematography and direction, good script and good music,» Azaria added.
