That being said, because mod support is such a huge part of the design of this specific game, I have a policy that I won't use any tools or libraries that aren't either owned by me, that are Open Source, or that are exporting to common, open formats that can be freely read, manipulated and written by Open Source programs.
If I used a licensed product to generate my voices, I would be in the same position as if I hired a voice actor -- I wouldn't have a tool that I was free to ship with the game that any modder could use to edit or add dialog, or to even create new characters with new voices.
The few exceptions for proprietary tools I'm willing to tolerate for this specific game are things that generate MIDI output, sounds, fonts, and PNG files. Everything else is either Open Source or completely owned by me. Even for the final assets like mp3 files and fonts, nothing can be licensed, because I want to have full control over when players have the ability to remix and distribute game assets in their mods. I need to know that 20 years from now players will still have access to everything in the game.
I don't want to derail, so to bring that back around to the current discussion on AI-generated fakes, I believe these kinds of AI techniques should be freely available. A world where AI-fakes are considered so dangerous that only a few select guardians can control them is a world where, to me, this technology stops being useful. I'm not saying Replica is in that position -- I'm just speaking to a broad trend in the conversation around AI.
I think we'll start to see more calls to have single companies controlling AI under the guise of being able to ban bad actors or prevent abuse. I think that would be a mistake -- if anything, ubiquitous technology makes it easier for society to adapt to that technology. A purely SaaS, licensed model for AI generated faces, voices, and text would be all of the negatives of this technology with none of the positives that come from Open access and creative usage.
That being said, because mod support is such a huge part of the design of this specific game, I have a policy that I won't use any tools or libraries that aren't either owned by me, that are Open Source, or that are exporting to common, open formats that can be freely read, manipulated and written by Open Source programs.
If I used a licensed product to generate my voices, I would be in the same position as if I hired a voice actor -- I wouldn't have a tool that I was free to ship with the game that any modder could use to edit or add dialog, or to even create new characters with new voices.
The few exceptions for proprietary tools I'm willing to tolerate for this specific game are things that generate MIDI output, sounds, fonts, and PNG files. Everything else is either Open Source or completely owned by me. Even for the final assets like mp3 files and fonts, nothing can be licensed, because I want to have full control over when players have the ability to remix and distribute game assets in their mods. I need to know that 20 years from now players will still have access to everything in the game.
I don't want to derail, so to bring that back around to the current discussion on AI-generated fakes, I believe these kinds of AI techniques should be freely available. A world where AI-fakes are considered so dangerous that only a few select guardians can control them is a world where, to me, this technology stops being useful. I'm not saying Replica is in that position -- I'm just speaking to a broad trend in the conversation around AI.
I think we'll start to see more calls to have single companies controlling AI under the guise of being able to ban bad actors or prevent abuse. I think that would be a mistake -- if anything, ubiquitous technology makes it easier for society to adapt to that technology. A purely SaaS, licensed model for AI generated faces, voices, and text would be all of the negatives of this technology with none of the positives that come from Open access and creative usage.
Gatekeeping won't work, we just have to adapt.