Article · AI translation
IT Home reported on November 14 that CD Projekt Red confirmed it will use Respeecher’s AI voice conversion technology to process Geralt’s Polish voice performance in Songs of the Past, a new story expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
IT Home learned that actor Jacek Rozenek has voiced Geralt in Polish since the first Witcher game was released in 2007, but his voice became deeper and raspier after he suffered a stroke in 2019. CDPR chose not to replace him. Instead, Rozenek will personally record all the new lines, and AI technology will then adjust his voice to sound closer to his performances in the earlier works.
CDPR localization producer Mikołaj Szwed said that about a year ago, the studio invited Rozenek to a recording studio to assess how his voice currently sounded. With subsequent help from voice cloning company Respeecher, Rozenek personally recorded all the new lines in the usual way. Respeecher then converted the recordings using a voice model built from his earlier performances in The Witcher 3, aiming to make them sound as close as possible to the original voice.
Respeecher synthetic voice artist Dmytro Vasylets said the greatest challenge was reproducing Rozenek’s rich emotional expression, including subtle changes in tone and different vocalizations such as shouting, groaning and laughter.
CDPR also said it currently has no plans to modify Rozenek’s voice this way in other future projects. This could mean that Rozenek’s now deeper, raspier voice may instead suit an older Geralt, for example in the future The Witcher 4.
In fact, this is not CDPR’s first collaboration with Respeecher. Miłogost Reczek, who voiced Viktor Vektor in the Polish version of Cyberpunk 2077, died in December 2021 at the age of 60. He also voiced Vesemir in the Polish version of The Witcher 3.
In the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion released in September 2023, actor Janusz Zadura recorded Viktor Vektor’s new lines, after which Respeecher converted his voice to sound like Reczek’s during his lifetime. Reczek’s family also approved the arrangement.
However, there is an important difference between this case involving The Witcher 3 and the aforementioned AI “resurrection” of a deceased actor’s voice: Rozenek is still alive. He has expressly consented to the use of AI technology and continues to record every new line himself; AI is used only to adjust his audio.
Overall, AI technology remains a subject of considerable attention and concern among voice actors worldwide. CDPR localization producer Mikołaj Szwed, however, believes CDPR’s collaboration with Jacek Rozenek in this case is an example of using AI technology ethically, with the actor’s consent, to help the actor.