So it should be restricted to someone who has money to blow on a labor like this?
This isn’t just about who has enough money, but about the ethics of using an actor’s likeness at scale without their permission and without paying them.
I think the fact that other VAs have been hired by mod teams in the past is only relevant if you believe that using AI is somehow equivalent.
Regarding copyright, it was previously not practical to copy a voice, so while it may be true that it is not copyright-able today, this is not a sufficient argument for the ethics of such copies, which may or may not be in sync with current laws. If copying voices was possible when copyright laws were established, the legal landscape would probably look different than it does today, which hints at the necessity of changes going forward.
AI is breaking new ground, and at this stage of the conversation, precedent is interesting in terms of how it reveals the gaps in current legal frameworks, but this should not be mistaken for such gaps being acceptable.
Many of these new conversations will reveal two things:
1) The things happening right now are legal
2) There are legitimate questions about whether or not they should be