EA Sports FC commentator Guy Mowbray okays AI voice cloning for player-name calls

BBC football commentator Guy Mowbray says he’s given Electronic Arts permission to replicate his voice with AI for EA Sports FC, mainly so the game can generate spoken player names without him having to record every single one by hand.

In an interview with the BBC, Mowbray described the usual process: he records each player’s name multiple times with different emphasis, depending on what’s happening on the pitch. That’s a lot of work when EA Sports FC can include 20,000-plus real players, and Mowbray said he’s already recording commentary for the series “pretty much every week from November all the way to the start of July.”

EA told the BBC that AI has been used in its development pipeline for a while, and framed this specific use as something done with talent, not a replacement. Mowbray also pointed out that the game’s commentary is a moving target anyway, with new players, new terminology, and new features needing coverage year to year.

It’s also worth noting this kind of arrangement isn’t universally accepted across the industry. Some actors have pushed back hard on AI voice use, especially when consent or contract terms are disputed.

Other games have also been using AI voices. The most notable example is Arc Raiders, which received consent from their voice actors to expand coverage of voice lines to every single item in the game, which is why pinging any inventory item has a unique voice line.