Football commentator permits EA to use an AI version of his voice for EA Sports FC

Football (soccer) commentator, Guy Mowbray, has given Electronic Arts permission to “replicate his voice” via AI to generate player names.

Talking to the BBC, Mowbray talked about how he records commentary for EA’s football franchise, revealing that he has to record each player’s name for EA Sports FC “about five different” times, changing the emphasis each time, depending upon where their actions and where they are on the pitch.

However, as he’s already working on his commentary for the game “pretty much every week from November all the way to the start of July,” Mowbray has permitted EA to clone his voice to help cover the 20,000+ real footballers names that may up the teams in FC.

“AI has long been part of our development pipeline – from animation to gameplay systems – and continues to support our teams in making better, more responsive football experiences,” EA told the BBC.

“But when it comes to commentary and content, it’s always a collaboration with our talent – not a replacement.”

“It constantly needs updating – with new names for all the new players, plus new terminology and new features in the game,” Mowbray said. “It’s an ever-evolving process and it’s exciting to be part of it because it never stands still.

“It takes so long because for every single facet of the game that you could think of, we have to cover every scenario. It is so in-depth because it has got to feel and sound real – the whole point of the game is its authenticity.”

Not all voice actors are as willing to donate their voice, however. Last September. Françoise Cadol, the French voice of Lara Croft in multiple Tomb Raider games, issued a formal notice to publisher Aspyr, accusing the company of using AI to replicate her voice in Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered without her consent, while this time last year, the voice talent team that brings Apex Legends’ characters to life in French refused to sign contracts that would authorize their voices to be used to train AI.