Embark Studios' CEO Patrick Söderlund admitted that there is a quality difference when it comes to using voice actors versus AI. In an unexpected twist, humans have taken some jobs back from AI. Embark Studios' CEO Patrick Söderlund recently told that the studio re-recorded some of the AI-generated voice lines in with human voices, only after its successful launch in October. There is a quality difference, Söderlund told A real professional actor is better than AI; that's just how it is. With Arc Raiders' player count peaking at nearly half a million users on Steam, the game's breakout success was still marred by its use of text-to-speech AI. While there was no generative AI used for the visuals of the extraction shooter, Embark Studios paid its actors for approval to license their voices for text-to-speech AI, according to Söderlund.

Microsoft is opening up limited access to a text-to-speech AI called Custom Neural Voice, which allows developers to create custom synthetic voices. The tech is part of an Azure AI service called Speech. Companies can use the tech for things like voice-powered smart assistants and devices, chatbots, online learning and reading audiobooks or news. They'll have to apply for access and gain approval from Microsoft before they can harness Custom Neural Voice. The tech can deliver more natural-sounding voices than many other text-to-speech services, according to Microsoft.