Françoise Cadol, the actor who voiced the French version of Lara Croft in all of Tomb Raider games from their inception to 2008, is taking legal action against Aspyr Media for the apparent AI-generated use of her voice in the Tomb Raider 4-6 remasters.
Cadol told French newspaper Le Parisien (via The Gamer) that Aspyr Media generated lines of dialogue using her voice without asking her or even notifying her. She has reportedly issued Aspyr a cease and desist demand.
Examples of the allegedly AI-generated voice lines were shared on social media, and in them you can clearly hear the difference between the original Tomb Raider games and the recently remastered ones. A much more robotic reading of the lines suddenly takes over part-way through the remastered dialogue.
Cadol, who has regularly dubbed for high-profile actors like Angelina Jolie, including dubbing her performance in the 2001 Tomb Raider film, was alerted to the recording discrepancies by French Tomb Raider fans. Speaking to Le Parisien, Cadol said the use of AI here was a “betrayal” of their support.
“It’s a game, my voice accompanies the gamers, we play together,” Cadol said in a translation of the article. “Tomb Raider has been followed by a lot of people over the years, for them, it’s a betrayal, a total disrespect. They are angry.”
Alarmingly, this isn’t the only example of AI-generated voice work in the game. Brazilian actor Lene Bastos was also told by fans that her voice seemed to have been AI-generated in the remasters, and she decided to speak out about it. This prompted a reply – and apology – from Aspyr. Bastos explains in an Instagram video that Aspyr promised to remove the AI-generated lines in an update in a few weeks.
It’s unclear if Aspyr has contacted Cadol and said the same. We’ve requested comment from Aspyr.
Earlier this year, the entire French cast of multiplayer shooter Apex Legends refused to sign an agreement allowing their voices to train generative AI for the game.
“We are asked to give up our expertise to train the generative AI that will replace us tomorrow,” commented Pascale Chemin at the time, the French voice of Wraith in Apex Legends. “We are asked to agree to what we specifically fight against. We are asked to shoot ourselves in the foot. We are asked to support AI.”
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