So the new dlc coming will use ai generated voice work it says on steam page

[castleberger]

AI voicing AI characters would be great! Like the second assistant inside the geometric owl in the torus mission for PIO.

[gbjbaanb]

Nothing wrong with using generative AI to give more stuff. Sure artists should be compensated for using their likeness in AI, but the recent strike by the Film Actors Guild (of American Screen Stars) decided that it was OK to have AI replace actors and agreed what the terms should be.

[Socratatus]

Often in complex immersive games that have plenty of voice-acting, there are times when certain extra lines are required, that the Creator realised is needed, just to add meaning or substance or fix an error, basically editing. It's like writing a story for instance- Your book is perfect, but, oh! this character should have said, "Thankyou!"- You go back and make the character say "Thankyou!"

Not so easy to do with real actors you have to call in just to say a few simple words, or even longer phrases. And if you really, really care about your creation you want those few extra words in.

An Ai voice micking the real actor would be perfect, save time, and help complete the vision the creator has. As long as the original actor is compensated for his voice being used I see few issues.

[MegaJohnny]

In 7.0 beta 6, there seem to be new Betty voice lines added for the new stuff (at least in English) - so far I've heard the lines for the new Xenon ships and the Second Duchy Palace.

The delivery for the Xenon ships seems very inconsistent (and rather awkward), and Second Duchy Palace is read extremely quick (compare it to a Refined Goods Complex, for example). Could these be AI voice lines? If so, are they at all representative of what we might hear in Timelines?

[Skeeter]

x4 has also the ai works tag on in the steam page not just this dlc it seems. Probs just triggered cos of filters used to modify voices to the aliens i dunno.

Betty has not always been consistent with lines i.e sounding odd at times, i blame the audio director not keeping it consistent but who knows tbh why.

[MegaJohnny]

x4 has also the ai works tag on in the steam page not just this dlc it seems. Probs just triggered cos of filters used to modify voices to the aliens i dunno.

Betty has not always been consistent with lines i.e sounding odd at times, i blame the audio director not keeping it consistent but who knows tbh why.

Yep, good catch. I want to say that was added recently but I probably just didn't spot it. Still curious to know if it is those new Betty lines which are AI, or something else that's coming into the base game.

[Skeeter]

I presume betty was rehired as and when like when dlc requires more lines for stuff, like past dlc.

[Privata]

I think AI generation, especially for voices is a complex topic
However I would be very happy to see Egosoft use it

I have not enjoyed the voice acting in most X games after X2. (though TC and AP did have some good line readings)

I think for smaller studios its a empowering tool that can enable so much to be done with little budget, its more for larger studios where it becomes a real issue IMO. (because they can and should hire people, they have the money, the resources and so on, especially when it comes to movies and shows there is less of a way to justify that)
With how expensive and time consuming it can be I welcome this, and would like to see it more

I agree with what MrWho said for example, if we have more of the narrative samples be higher quality acting but done by actual people and the rest is all generative then we might get much better acting across the board
Plus, that might mean we can get those long winded expo dumps we used to get for stations, ships and so on.

[user1679]

Are these AI voices generated and included as audio files or will they be generated on the fly? Will it require an internet connection to generate and "stream" the voice (I hope not).

Seems like anything but "files on disk" is another opening for lag to creep in.

[birdtable]

The quickest way to ruin immersion in a game is a voice that lacks inflection, tone or whatever ... computer generated. or the latest buzzword AI. Would work for the Xenon but actual biological species no way, although it would be an improvement on the Boron mincing speech patterns. AI at present is about as smart as a gadfly ... mmm rings a bell.!!

[Alan Phipps]

@ user1679: X4 does/will not routinely require any online connection to continue playing unless a specified online feature (past or future) is optionally selected. Such a basic playing requirement can not be retro-added for sold games. Please don't worry about such 'what if' conspiracies.

[Gregory]

A few words on the subject to avoid misinformation and misconceptions:

Starting with X4 7.00 and X4: Timelines, some characters in various languages of the game are voiced using generative AI. These voice-overs are based on agreements between Egosoft and individual voice actors, allowing us to use their voices for these very specific purposes, or "off-the-shelf" voices provided by third parties who have their own licences.

This does not mean that all characters will suddenly be voiced by AI; traditional voice recordings are still being used, too. The ratio varies depending on the language version of the game.

From a technical standpoint, nothing will change for X4 players. For example, an internet connection is NOT suddenly required as a result of this. All voice lines are pre-recorded and stored on your hard drive, as before.

We welcome feedback on issues with specific voiced lines, whether AI generated or not, so that we can refine and improve the quality of the game.

[Techedge]

Thanks Gregory, very kind of you to have explained and clarified this aspect.

[user1679]

A few words on the subject to avoid misinformation and misconceptions:

Starting with X4 7.00 and X4: Timelines, some characters in various languages of the game are voiced using generative AI. These voice-overs are based on agreements between Egosoft and individual voice actors, allowing us to use their voices for these very specific purposes, or "off-the-shelf" voices provided by third parties who have their own licences.

This does not mean that all characters will suddenly be voiced by AI; traditional voice recordings are still being used, too. The ratio varies depending on the language version of the game.

From a technical standpoint, nothing will change for X4 players. For example, an internet connection is NOT suddenly required as a result of this. All voice lines are pre-recorded and stored on your hard drive, as before.

We welcome feedback on issues with specific voiced lines, whether AI generated or not, so that we can refine and improve the quality of the game.

Thank you, will be interesting to see how this turns out. I remember playing with text to speech in visual basic 6, "microsoft mike" and "microsoft mary" would probably be hated by all the factions.

[birdtable]

Is it genuine Artificial Intelligence or just mimicry .. a pet parrot can mimic speech is that biological AI . When AI becomes creative it will be a true landmark...but not in my lifetime.

[gbjbaanb]

The quickest way to ruin immersion in a game is a voice that lacks inflection, tone or whatever ... computer generated. or the latest buzzword AI. Would work for the Xenon but actual biological species no way, although it would be an improvement on the Boron mincing speech patterns. AI at present is about as smart as a gadfly ... mmm rings a bell.!!

I think you are not up to date with the latest in AI technology. One of the tech youtubers I follow (FYI it was Fireship) mentioned that he tried using AI voice to read all his YT videos. He played a sample and I couldn't tell the difference except when he pointed out the very minor tone that was different. If he had done the clip without telling me, I wouldn't have known at all. I've also see AI generated music, with lyrics, that is simply astounding.

Is it genuine Artificial Intelligence or just mimicry .. a pet parrot can mimic speech is that biological AI . When AI becomes creative it will be a true landmark...but not in my lifetime.

Are we intelligent, or just mimicing and reassemblking stuff we've learned over time? AI isn't intelligent and will never be as its just a very complex pattern matching algorithm. But do we work exactly the same way under the squishy covers?

[user1679]

The quickest way to ruin immersion in a game is a voice that lacks inflection, tone or whatever ... computer generated. or the latest buzzword AI. Would work for the Xenon but actual biological species no way, although it would be an improvement on the Boron mincing speech patterns. AI at present is about as smart as a gadfly ... mmm rings a bell.!!

I think you are not up to date with the latest in AI technology. One of the tech youtubers I follow (FYI it was Fireship) mentioned that he tried using AI voice to read all his YT videos. He played a sample and I couldn't tell the difference except when he pointed out the very minor tone that was different. If he had done the clip without telling me, I wouldn't have known at all. I've also see AI generated music, with lyrics, that is simply astounding.

Is it genuine Artificial Intelligence or just mimicry .. a pet parrot can mimic speech is that biological AI . When AI becomes creative it will be a true landmark...but not in my lifetime.

Are we intelligent, or just mimicing and reassemblking stuff we've learned over time? AI isn't intelligent and will never be as its just a very complex pattern matching algorithm. But do we work exactly the same way under the squishy covers?

Not to get too far off topic but I do find it facinating that some people think AI could never be "human". But really, humans are not born with any innate sense of emotion or reasoning, it is all learned through observation and experience. Newborns don't smile and make noises because they understand "happy" or "sad" but rather perceptively that when they make certain noises they get certain attention. Likewise, as we age, we learn love, acceptance, hatred and intolerance. The idea that an AI could not evolve into an emotional state I think is a fallacy. Given enough time, an AI will be able to elicit responses from the adults in a room much like a child.

And for those who subscribe to "well humans have instincts", sure, I concede that. But instincts exist through natural selection (Wundt, 1879) and who's to say that over generations of AI, a form of natural selection won't occurr? At least once we start having AI code AI.