Jennifer Hale Speaks Out on AI's Impact on Voice Acting

As part of an interview featured in the 2026 GDC Trends Report, renowned voice actor Jennifer Hale once again addressed the growing concerns surrounding generative AI and its influence on performers. With a focus on the future of creative work, Hale emphasized that despite the rise of AI in the games industry, human agency remains crucial.

"AI is not going anywhere. It’s part of our reality, and I believe that one must accept what it is," said Hale. "But we are also responsible for it. AI is not yet an independent intelligence. It’s a tool. And the tool does what the human holding the tool tells it to."

The Role of Creative Workers in Shaping AI's Future

Hale pointed out that creative professions like acting are "the canaries in the coal mine" for how generative AI technology will affect the broader workforce. This means that game developers and artists have a unique opportunity to set the tone for how AI will transform work, either positively or negatively.

"As actors, what we’re asking for is consent," Hale explained, contrasting her work being used as training data with the conscious way actors imitate each other to grow as performers. "I don’t want it used in some situations," she continued. "I don’t want an AI to do a performance I could have done, because I can inform it with my human soul that is however-many days or years more informed, intelligent, and experienced than it was the last time I worked on that project."

Hale stressed the importance of control, consent, and compensation in the use of AI. "You can’t take away someone’s ability to make a living and not pay them for it. It is wrong. It is wrong. Ain’t nobody making you do it. You do it, or you don’t."

The Gaming Industry's Response to AI

Hale has been a vocal critic of the threat generative AI poses to voice actors and workers in general. She previously warned during the SAG-AFTRA interactive media strike in 2024 that "AI is coming for all of us." So far, public distaste has largely kept generated assets out of final games.

If you took a shot every time a developer had to issue one of those jpeg text apologies saying, "We used it in the concept/prototype phase and it accidentally slipped into the finished game," you would already be dead by now. There is one notable exception in last year's explosively popular Arc Raiders, but even then, its AI voice overs have only been ignored or begrudgingly tolerated, not celebrated.