Popverse's top stories of the day

• DC's Tom King, Star Wars's Charles Soule, and Comics' Eddie Campbell: Just some of the hundreds of creators in C2E2's full 2025 Artist's Alley line-up
• MEMBERS ONLY: Popverse Jump: The Sailor Moon prequel manga Codename: Sailor V is a unique piece of anime history coming to the US this Fall
• MEMBERS ONLY: Popverse Picks: Our favorite novels from The Buffalo Hunter Hunter's Stephen Graham Jones

The use of AI has become something of a crisis for many creatives around the world. It was a big reason behind the Hollywood strikes of 2023 and is also why video game actors are currently on strike right now. Last week, we all saw Sony’s (terrible) AI version of Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West and it didn’t take long for the voice of Aloy, Ashly Burch, to use that tech demo to highlight exactly why video game voice actors need the protections they are fighting for.

She posted on Instagram and TikTok, explaining that Guerilla, the studio behind the Horizon games, had reached out to her to assure her that they were not actively involved in the development of the tech demo that leaked online last week and that none of her voice or facial data had been used to create the version of Aloy used in the video.

While that might have assuaged her concerns about her likeness being used to replace herself, Ashly Burch said, “I feel worried. And not worried about Guerilla specifically or Horizon or my performance or my career specifically. I feel worked about this art form. Game performance is an art form.”

She went on to explain that this issue cut to the heart of why video game actors are currently on strike. “Because this technology exists, because we know that game companies want to use it, we’re asking for protections. So currently what we’re fighting for is that you have to get our consent before you make an AI version of us in any form. You have to compensate us fairly and you have to tell us how you’re using this AI double.”

Without those protections, there would be nothing stopping companies like Sony from creating an AI version of Aloy, complete with Burch’s voice and movements, to say anything they wanted and actors would have no recourse or compensation. An entire profession could be replaced by soulless AI characters. “And that possibility… it makes me so sad. It hurts my heart. It scares me,” Ashly Burch said. “I love this industry and this art form so much and I want there to be a new generation of actors. I want there to be so many more incredible game performances. I want to be able to continue to do this job and, if we don’t win, then that future really is compromised.”

It isn’t surprising that Burch has such strong feelings about this issue, but it is surprising that she’s spoken so publicly about them. Even with Guerilla’s assurances that none of her data had been used to create Sony’s tech demo, it is clear that she sees a future where companies try to replace actors with AI as the norm rather than the exception. That future scares her and, to be honest, it scares us too.

You don't need to beat the game to prepare for the next one—here are all the major new and upcoming games coming our way.