The Finals uses AI voices, and the community isn’t happy

Almost all video games use some kind of artificial intelligence, but Embark Studios is now getting flak for blatantly using AI voices in The Finals to do the jobs of real actors. 

The Finals is a hot new game in the FPS genre that has managed to break through the ceiling and get the attention of players fixated on Valorant and CS2. In 2023, the shooter genre is crammed with top-tier games, so The Finals emerging as an option is commendable for Embark Studios. 

However, the latest revelation that The Finals uses AI voices has players criticizing the developers for trying to replace humans. Amid SAG-AFTRA negotiations where AI is a hot topic, this news has put a bad taste in the mouths of concerned gaming enthusiasts. 

Who’s the voice actor in The Finals?

The Finals’ decision to use AI text-to-speech was confirmed on a podcast earlier in July, but many had missed this detail.

It was highlighted by Gianni Matragrano, who is a known VA for video games. Gianno shared a snippet from the podcast, where audio designer Andreas Almström explained the process of VA for The Finals. 

So I guess The Finals is going with AI voices…? pic.twitter.com/PIAbR43ZrT

— Gianni Matragrano (@GetGianni) October 28, 2023

“All the contestant voices, like the barks [and] both our commentators are AI text-to-speech. AI text-to-speech is, finally, extremely powerful, it gets us far enough in terms of quality and allows us to be extremely reactive to new ideas and keeping things really fresh,” He explained.

Gaming community isn’t sold on The Finals AI voices

The revelations have split the community, with many claiming that the AI voices in The Finals sound unreal and mechanical. However, there’s a chunk who doesn’t mind playing a game with AI voices as long as they sound humane. 

Am I the only one who thinks that the ingame announcers sound really cool in THE FINALS even if it is AI? I’ve seen some complaints and maybe it’s cause English isn’t my first language but I think the game looks and sounds really good. Definitely one of my favorite upcoming games

— AverageJonas 🇳🇴 (@Average_Jonas) October 30, 2023

According to the developer, The Final’s voice acting is a mix of AI TTS and recorded voice audio. Grunts, pants, and other ambient sounds were recorded in-house since AI can’t replicate those yet. 

Still, the community has collectively raised a concern that employing AI robs real people of jobs that they could do better. Game VAs have also come forward, sending criticism towards Embark Studios for choosing this direction.