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A “Simpsons” voice actor is concerned about A.I. coming for his work. Should we all be?
The wisecracking Po in “Kung Fu Panda.” The conniving Gru from “Despicable Me.” The spunky Fiona in “Shrek.” The thunderous Mufasa in “Lion King.”
Some of our most beloved animated characters have wonderful and distinctive voices that make them vibrant and unforgettable.
Do you have any favorites?
What about the vocal performances — husky, cheery, gruff, squeaky, booming, authoritative — makes the characters so memorable?
You probably know that there is a human being behind your favorite animated characters, but as A.I. comes to Hollywood that humanness could soon change. Should all of us be worried?
In “Can Characters Come Alive Without People?” Hank Azaria, who does the voices of Moe the bartender, Chief Wiggum and Comic Book Guy on “The Simpsons,” shows what it takes to create the voices of his characters:
He also shares his concerns about the threats that artificial intelligence poses for the future of his work:
I imagine that soon enough, artificial intelligence will be able to recreate the sounds of the more than 100 voices I created for characters on “The Simpsons” over almost four decades. It makes me sad to think about it. Not to mention, it seems just plain wrong to steal my likeness or sound — or anyone else’s.
In my case, A.I. could have access to 36 years of Moe, the permanently disgruntled bartender. He’s appeared in just about every episode of “The Simpsons.” He’s been terrified, in love, hit in the head and, most often, in a state of bitter hatred. I’ve laughed as Moe in dozens of ways by now. I’ve probably sighed as Moe 100 times. In terms of training A.I., that’s a lot to work with.
But a voice is not just a sound. And I’d like to think that no matter how much an A.I. version of Moe or Snake or Chief Wiggum will sound like my voice, something will still be missing — the humanness. There’s so much of who I am that goes into creating a voice. How can the computer conjure all that?
A misconception about voice acting is that it takes only a voice. But our bodies and souls are involved to get the proper believability. When I first watched Dan Castellaneta, who plays Homer, and Harry Shearer, who plays Mr. Burns and many other characters, doing vocal recordings, I was almost embarrassed by how silly they looked. They were jumping around and giving a full performance to no one — just a microphone. I was 23. It took me a while to get up the courage to do that, too.
It can be as simple as running in place if your character’s running. If your character is crying, you work up real tears, real emotion. A lot of my characters have thrown punches or been punched in the face. If your character’s talking while he throws a punch, it’s hard to fake unless you actually throw a punch. Sometimes we’ll pick up a prop if it helps us get into the reality of the scene. I played a character who was cigar-chomping, so I stuck a highlighter in my mouth while I talked.