Voice actor Hank Azaria, who voices over 100 different Simpsons characters, recently gave up some of his valuable time to experiment with AI, courtesy of The New York Times. The goal? To see if AI could potentially replace him when it comes to voicing some of his iconic Simpsons characters.
What happened? Well, AI seems to fall short – at least, for now. The video was posted along with the below description:
Hank Azaria, the man who breathed life into some of the most iconic characters on The Simpsons, argues that there is a lot more to voicing a character than just opening your mouth. It’s a full-bodied performance informed by a character’s fears and motivations, by their humanness. And when it comes to the human condition, it takes one to know one — for now at least.
Check out the video below, and also enjoy Azaria switching between nine different Simpsons characters in 70 seconds, as he reads A Tale of Two Cities.
I think this was a fun, insightful video to watch, mainly because I know all these characters and seeing Azaria switching between them, and also getting his opinion on AI is pretty neat.
It’s also a little reassuring to see that AI doesn’t quite hit the mark just yet.
What do you think of these Azaria vids, via the New York Times? And how long do you think it’ll be before AI can seamlessly recreate these characters? Is this the future? Comment below!
