The Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria is voicing his concerns over potentially being replaced by artificial intelligence.
Azaria, who has voiced dozens of characters over his 40-year film and TV career, including bartender Moe, Chief Wiggum and Comic Book Guy on the long-running animated comedy, wrote about his fears in a recent op-ed for The New York Times.
“I imagine that soon enough, artificial intelligence will be able to recreate the sounds of the more than 100 voices I created for characters on The Simpsons over almost four decades,” he wrote. “It makes me sad to think about it. Not to mention, it seems just plain wrong to steal my likeness or sound — or anyone else’s.”
The Brockmire actor continued, “In my case, AI could have access to 36 years of Moe, the permanently disgruntled bartender. He’s appeared in just about every episode of The Simpsons. He’s been terrified, in love, hit in the head and, most often, in a state of bitter hatred. I’ve laughed as Moe in dozens of ways by now. I’ve probably sighed as Moe 100 times. In terms of training AI, that’s a lot to work with.”
Azaria also expressed that it’s more than just sound that goes into voicing a character, as “our bodies and souls” also play a big role, in addition to improvisation.
“I’d like to think that no matter how much an AI version of Moe or Snake or Chief Wiggum will sound like my voice, something will still be missing — the humanness,” he added. “There’s so much of who I am that goes into creating a voice. How can the computer conjure all that?”
The Hello Tomorrow! actor later asked, “What will the lack of humanness sound like? How big will the difference be? I honestly don’t know, but I think it will be enough, at least in the near term, that we’ll notice something is off, in the same way that we notice something’s amiss in a subpar film or TV show.”
“It adds up to a sense that what we’re watching isn’t real, and you don’t need to pay attention to it,” he concluded. “Believability is earned through craftsmanship, with good storytelling and good performances, good cinematography and good directing and a good script and good music.”
Azaria has also voiced characters on Family Guy, Mack & Moxy, Bordertown, Futurama and Spider-Man: The Animated Series, among others.
