Hear what Horizon Zero Dawn actor Ashly Burch thinks about Sony AI taking her job

Ashly Burch, the award-winning voice and performance actor behind Horizon Zero Dawn’s Aloy — one of the most prominent characters on PlayStation today — has some news and some very strong thoughts about the leaked Sony experiment that saw her character voiced and performed by AI technology instead of her or any other human being.

The video, originally shared with The Verge by a tipster and later pulled off YouTube by a copyright enforcement company that counts Sony PlayStation as a client, was of an internal prototype — not necessarily something that’s in production for actual games. Burch says Horizon developer Guerilla proactively confirmed to her that it is not actively in development. Nor did it use her voice or facial data, Guerilla claimed. 

But Burch says having seen the demo, she is worried, and not just about her own career. “I feel worried about this art form,” she says. You can watch her video immediately below, or scroll down for a full transcript. 

let us speak on AI aloy

Here’s a transcript:

Hi. Let’s talk about AI Aloy. I saw the tech demo earlier this week. Guerilla reached out to me to let me know that the demo didn’t reflect anything that was actively in development. They didn’t use any of my performance for the demo, so none of my facial or voice data. And Guerilla owns Aloy as a character.

So all that said, I feel worried. And not worried about Guerilla specifically or Horizon or my performance or my career specifically, even. I feel worried about this art form. Game performance as an art form.

We are currently on strike. SAG-AFTRA is on strike against video games because of AI. 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.

And I feel worried not because the technology exists. Not even because game companies want to use it. Because of course they do. They always want to use technological advancements.

I just imagine a video like this coming out that does have someone’s performance attached to it. That does have someone’s voice or face or movement. And the possibility that if we lose this fight, that person would have no recourse.

They wouldn’t have any protections. Any way to fight back. And that possibility… it makes me so sad. It hurts my heart. It scares me.

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 is really compromised.

In a slightly longer TikTok version of the video, which we’ve embedded above to replace the original Instagram copy, Burch adds that “I’m genuinely not trying to put any game company specifically on blast, certainly not Guerilla. The technology isn’t the problem. Game companies wanting to use the technology is not the problem. The problem is we’re currently on strike, and the bargaining group will not agree to give us common sense protections.”

It’s unusual for performers who have such a close relationship with game companies to speak out like this, but we’re also in an unusual moment: as she points out, video game actors are on strike right now, specifically because of AI, and the very idea that a company like Sony is explicitly building and demonstrating ways to potentially replace actors like Burch is exactly what the striking workers fear.

In addition to starring in Horizon Zero Dawn, Burch has had minor roles in other Sony games including The Last of Us Part II and Spider-Man, but is otherwise best known for playing Chloe Price in the Life Is Strange games, Tiny Tina in Borderlands, and from the live-action D&D roleplaying series Critical Role and Apple TV Plus’s Mythic Quest, where she also serves as a writer.

Update, March 14th: Swapped Instagram video for Burch’s longer uncut TikTok video and added its additional context.