Deus Ex, Starfield Voice Actor Speaks Out Against AI Adam Jensen Mod For Cyberpunk 2077

Elias Toufexis, the voice actor behind characters such as Adam Jensen from Deus Ex and Sam Coe from Starfield, says that using his voice for an AI performance is a “theft of his voice.” When he was notified on Twitter that his voice was used to create an AI performance for a mod for Cyberpunk 2077, he responded with some tough words regarding the situation. 

Two things about this.
1- This shouldn't be a thing. You want my voice in a game? Pay me.

2- People are making mods of Adam Jensen all over the place, showing how popular he still is, and we haven't made a new Deus Ex. That's insane. https://t.co/DvVAmyiEUc

— ᴇʟɪᴀꜱ ᴛᴏᴜꜰᴇxɪꜱ (@EliasToufexis) October 18, 2023

He also expressed his desire to work on a new Deus Ex game, saying that it is “insane” that a new Deus Ex game still has not been made considering the popularity of the series’ main character, (at least of the last two games) Adam Jensen. In a separate tweet, Elias further goes on to talk about AI and claims that AI itself is theft as it simply steals pre-existing content made by actual people. 

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Elias further clarifies that he does not care if players take pre-existing voice clips and edit them together to create any kind of content, but the problem comes in when his voice is used to create an AI performance. 

I never said those words and now the acting is s**t.” 

Using AI for voice acting is increasingly becoming a bigger concern with time. Earlier this year, voice actor Erica Lindbeck faced backlash when she spoke out against her voice being used by AI for a video, causing her to temporarily leave Twitter. Many voice actors within the gaming community such as Yuri Lowenthal, Robbie Daymond, and Erika Harlacher-Stone spoke in favor of Erica Lindbeck. 

Recently it was also confirmed that CD Projekt Red used AI to redo the lines of the late Polish voice actor, Milogost Reczek for his reprisal as the ripperdoc Viktor in the Phantom Liberty expansion. Initially, CPDR wanted to replace his voice actor with a different one but decided to go along with using AI after getting consent from the late actor’s family. 

It is also likely that a video games strike could take place in the future on behalf of the SAG-AFTRA actor’s union. The SAG-AFTRA went on strike in unison with the WGA over the rapidly increasing use of AI in professional content such as films and TV shows after studios threatened to replace actors and writers with AI. If there’s one thing that we can be sure of right now, it’s that creatives will do everything in their power to push back against having their talent, likeness, and their voice stolen and plagiarized by AI.