The Mandalorian's Katee Sackhoff Weighs In On AI Using Her Voice When She's Gone
Like it or not, AIs are here. As technology advances, the use of AI will likely rise. Over the last few years, the movie industry has questioned its validity and role within productions. While the technology will likely never replace screenwriters, studios are searching for ways to utilize the tech to benefit cinema.
Comicbook.com recently sat down with "The Mandalorian" star Katee Sackhoff to discuss her opinion about how the Disney+ series uses AI technology to recreate her character's voice. "If my family reaps the benefit of that? Yeah, of course," she said. "I think we're into a really, really tricky place with AI. It's scary to me in some regard... For a fandom to continue to have new content after someone is gone is pretty amazing. But I do believe that the original artist should always be financially paid for their work."
"It's a really slippery slope," she continued. The "Battlestar Galactica" star said she's focused on controlling her career, work, and image. AI allows anyone to copy an actor's looks and voice, which could do incredible harm to someone's career. "That's not ok. It's not ok," Sackhoff said.
Lucasfilm has already used AI to continue a character's story
Sackhoff made some excellent points when discussing using AI within the Star Wars universe. On the one hand, it allows a character to live on past their actor, giving fans more experiences with them. But as she mentioned in her Comicbook.com interview, there are still a lot of legal hoops to jump through if a studio wants to do that.
Still, Lucasfilm already has a deal like that in place. James Earl Jones, who voiced Darth Vader, has seemingly retired from acting. But his "Star Wars" villain lives on in newer film entries. Vader appeared in "Obi-Wan Kenobi," reuniting with his former master. An AI brought Jones' voice to the character. The actor signed off on the use of his voice after hearing the final product, so it was all done under the best circumstances. Also, it's an excellent example of how AI can mutually benefit an actor and production.
One day, Sackhoff could find herself in a similar position. Although she's far from hitting retirement, she is the only actress to bring Bo-Katan Kryze to life in animation and live-action — as Jones did for Vader. So, if Lucasfilm wanted to continue Bo-Katan's story for decades more, they could.