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VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!
Where A.I. is a four-letter word.
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Bruce
Boardmeister
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7926
Location: Portland, OR
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 Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2023 4:48 pm Post subject: So Many Things to Say and None of Them Good |
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This radio fellow has created an A.I. a to create newscasts, and he's frikkin' proud of his efforts. Gleeful almost. As someone who was a full time newscaster for part of my radio career and a deejay who read plenty of rip'n'read stories off the teletype machine, this radio service "developer" and his oblivious joy over it are a huge insult.
A click on the first link in the story will take you to samples on his website. While the voices are close to human, the reading style is lifeless. Reminds me of so many robots in Sifi movies. It's not sad that some people with think this is satisfactory for their rank and file audience members, it disgusting.
https://www.radioworld.com/global/de-groot-launches-radionewsai
Just one bleeding human's perspective.
B[/url]
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005
I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. . |
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todd ellis
A Zillion
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10493
Location: little egypt
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| Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2023 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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I have the same background & I agree completely, however ...
| Quote: | | the reading style is lifeless. |
They sound EXACTLY like the rookie news readers around these parts.
And they'll PROBABLY learn faster.
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Bob Bergen
CM
Joined: 22 Apr 2008
Posts: 939
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| Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2023 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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Whatever is mediocre today is just going to be brilliant very soon.
About 20 years ago as the non-union VO community started to make their presence known, some of the work was good. Most was mediocre at best. I kept telling the union world with time mediocre will be brilliant as well. It took a few years, but eventually listeners could not tell union from non-union. It will be the same with AI, and much faster than a few years.
It matters not what is crude today. It will only improve. Ten years before The Wizard of Oz was released silent films were a fraction of the quality in film making. Tron, which was a crude example of computer animation came out less than 15 years before Toy Story.
This past weekend I attended an AI industry task force. We were played AI and none AI content. We couldn’t tell the difference. This is here and here to stay. You cannot stop the tide that is technology: |
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todd ellis
A Zillion
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10493
Location: little egypt
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 7:32 am Post subject: |
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I say it more and more often, and I know it's selfish - but, I'm glad I'm 57 and not 27.
I'll still end up selling vape pens on the street corner, but, on the positive side, at least I'll be dead soon.
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Bob Bergen
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Joined: 22 Apr 2008
Posts: 939
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 10:18 am Post subject: |
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| todd ellis wrote: | | I say it more and more often, and I know it's selfish - but, I'm glad I'm 57 and not 27. |
I have heard that with every generation since I got into vo over 40 years ago. All veterans compare "the good old days" to today. I got in when vo actors were just beginning to audition in their agent's offices rather than ad agencies. The veteran vo actors hated not being in the room as charming the buyer was half the battle. A few years later when cable outnumbered network TV, veterans compared the good old days when everything was Class A vs cable runs. When most working vo actors had a half dozen or more Class A spots running, each one paying em on average $30 grand a month. One job earned you health benefits for a year. This was my generation's good old days, before non-union overtook all of vo, and we all said how glad we were that we got into it when we did.
AI aside, today's generation have it a lot better than the previous ones. Animation alone has never seen more opportunities than today. There are more networks and channels all needing promo announcers and documentary narrators.
AI will most certainly impact the vo industry. But for some in the future, they will still look back at today and beyond as the good old days compared to where they are. It's all relative. |
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todd ellis
A Zillion
Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 10493
Location: little egypt
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| Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 12:23 pm Post subject: |
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Understood.
My comment goes WAY beyond VO. And AI, for that matter.
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GunslingerWriting
Contributor II
Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Posts: 61
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| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2023 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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It is astonishing to me the lack of insight and imagination in so many VO profesionals when it comes to assessing and understanding the impact of technology on their work and careers.
From antiquated and established voices in Britain to experienced pros in North America, at each and every mention over the last decade of the impending advance and incursion of technology into their lives and professional approaches, the attitudes were almost unaninimously dismissive of any notable impact and, as it turns out, grossly ignorant of the realities.
I did not see this in truly creative industries where the minds were more expanded but in VO it was sad to see the blinders on for so long after other fields were preparing and adapting. |
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Bob Bergen
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Joined: 22 Apr 2008
Posts: 939
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 8:43 am Post subject: |
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| GunslingerWriting wrote: | It is astonishing to me the lack of insight and imagination in so many VO profesionals when it comes to assessing and understanding the impact of technology on their work and careers.
From antiquated and established voices in Britain to experienced pros in North America, at each and every mention over the last decade of the impending advance and incursion of technology into their lives and professional approaches, the attitudes were almost unaninimously dismissive of any notable impact and, as it turns out, grossly ignorant of the realities.
I did not see this in truly creative industries where the minds were more expanded but in VO it was sad to see the blinders on for so long after other fields were preparing and adapting. |
Brilliant observation. Sadly, this behavior is not new or isolated to today's vo generation. Vaudeville performers resisted silent films, as their arrogance told them that audiences would never take to anything less than live performers. Silent film stars whose voices were less than appealing refused to work with coaches to help them sound better for sound films. Movie studios refused to believe the general public would prefer to watch a box in their living rooms providing TV, over going to a movie theaters. Television networks downplayed the public's interest in cable programming, especially since cable came with a fee. And everyone downplayed streaming....until every movie studio realized streaming was the future and invested in existing streaming services or launched their own.
SAG and AFTRA were also guilty of downplaying the impact of the last major tech disruption, which was the internet. It was the internet that eroded the union vo industry to where it is today, about 80% non-union. You woulda thunk they would have learned from history. But the issue was, with every tech disruption until the internet, the work always stayed union. Professionals might have had to adapt to stay relevant. But the work stayed union. And, never before had the unions or anyone experienced the vastness and speed that is the internet. Unless they were psychic, there was no way of knowing whom it would reach and what or how that outreach would impact the vo industry.
Now, SAG-AFTRA has finally gotten smart. They fully realize that AI is not only here to stay, it is good and only going to get better. Therefore, they are aggressively and strategically working towards protections and profit sharing with AI and union members. Our leverage is a 98% strike authorization vote, as well as over 1000 stars and celebrities who have voiced their support. This is the first time since the birth of SAG in the 1930s that celebs got behind the union to this extent. The union was launched by celebs of the day, and their board was governed by celebs until the late '60s. But since the '70s, many celebs have taken a backseat when it came to participating in contractual obligations and strategies. The reason for that is, in the '70s stars began producing. They didn't want to risk damaging their own box office returns and studio relationships. HUGE conflict of interest, which was never properly addressed or adjusted.
So, why are they so vocal about using their leverage now?? Because of the lack of profit sharing that comes from streaming, even for them! One episode of a network tv show in the '70s paid more in rerun residuals than a season on many streaming platforms. And every star wants their brand/image/voice protected from AI, and to be compensated when past work is used with AI to generate new work.
The outcome for the vo industry if we are successful, and I do think we will be, is that more will decide to come back to the union as it will be the only guarantee of protections and profit sharing with AI. Certainly there will be AI generated work that will not include any actor, union or non. That we cannot concern ourselves with. But we can concern ourselves with, work alongside, and adapt to this current tech disruption to our advantage. |
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