League of Legends fans despair as Riot uses AI to introduce new character to mobile game, and it can't even get her name right
League of Legends fans are less than impressed with Riot after it used AI to introduce a new character to the series' mobile offering.
A new trailer posted on the League of Legends: Wild Rift Twitter account showcases Sivir, a battle mistress who can quickly cut groups of enemies down to size with her bladed boomerang, create magical barriers to block enemy attacks, and provide a boost to allies movement speed. All in all, she's a helpful lady to have on the battlefield, though her impressive abilities have been overshadowed by the fact that developer Riot has opted to use AI for the video's voiceover.
No one commands the desert like this battle mistress. Experience her prowess in the Rift starting November 24th 🏜️ pic.twitter.com/A5kh3AnAukNovember 24, 2023
Fans aren't at all happy with this approach as not only does it put people out of work, but the AI does a pretty bad job of familiarizing us with Sivir, as it can't even get her name right. Sivir's been around since the game's original launch in 2006, but instead of pronouncing it as Siv-ear, like it's supposed to be, the AI calls her Severe, which, ironically, is a fitting description for this mistake.
In the comments, fans urge the developer to stop using AI and keep to the traditional method of hiring real people for the job. "There are actual humans who do voiceover for a living. Hire them and stop using this AI garbage," says one fan. Another writes, "Pay actual voice artists. This is just sad, it can't even pronounce your own game's words correctly.. and even if it could, we want humans talking, not soulless stuff."
Whether this convinces Riot to change tack remains to be seen, but with the use of AI on the rise, we could very well see AI-generated voices adopted more and more in games. Recently, several voice actors from prominent games such as Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Starfield hit out at Microsoft for its latest AI efforts, which are capable of generating character dialogue. Additionally, the new Naruto fighting games has received backlash over a questionable redub that some suspect is the result of AI manipulation.
According to legendary creator Hideo Kojima, "humans should be above" AI.
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