The voice actress of Futaba Sakura from Persona 5 has been harassed and mobbed after asking for the removal of an AI cover song featuring her voice without permission.
YouTube user themusicalcreeper7584 uploaded a cover song titled "Welcome to the Internet" performed by Futaba Sakura from Persona 5, featuring an AI-driven rendition of the voice of the character Erica Lindbeck.
The Erica Lindbeck Futaba AI Story:
Lindbeck reacted by asking for the video to be taken down, as she does not provide any permission for the use of her voice for this kind of application and themusicalcreeper7584 complied. That should have been the end of it, but unfortunately, it wasn't.
A large number of users started harassing the actress arguing that her permission isn't needed for AI, all the way to less flattering comments intended to diminish her right to complain about her voice being used without permission. On top of that, several copies of the video have been re-uploaded by other users out of spite, with messages like "You can't make me take it down" and similar antics.
It's worth mentioning that themusicalcreeper7584 themselves have taken to the comments of some of these re-uploaded videos mentioning that they removed theirs due to the request of the original actress and asking for the reuploads to be taken down as well.
Following the harassment she received, Lindbeck closed her Twitter and Instagram accounts. At the moment it isn't clear whether she'll return or not.
On the other hand, many fans and other voice actors have chimed in to express their support for Erica Lindbeck who is also known for many relevant roles like Shionne in Tales of Arise, Jessie in Final Fantasy VII Remake, Katalina in the Granblue Fantasy series, Magilou in Tales of Berseria, and more.
This happens as the discussion about artificial intelligence in creative endeavors is at its hottest, with concerns about artists, actors, and writers being replaced by bots for many purposes and even websites publishing frankly terrible articles generated by AI.
Futaba Sakura will soon return in the upcoming tactics RPG Persona 5 Tactica, which will release for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on November 17, 2023.
Source: Ayy Lmao.
