Indie dev accused of using AI voice acting in Steam game reveals it was actually his wife

An indie game developer responded to criticism over alleged AI-generated voice acting in the Steam game Luminary, revealing the character was actually voiced by his wife.

AI use in video games has become an increasingly sensitive topic among players, particularly when it comes to artwork and voice acting.

However, one Luminary player left a negative Steam review accusing developer Refractive Entertainment of using an AI-generated voice.

Luminary dev responds to AI voice acting accusation

The player gave Luminary a “Not Recommended” review after playing for 0.4 hours, specifically pointing to the voice acting as the reason they stopped playing.

“Looked like it was gonna be good, but the awful AI generated voice killed it for me, feels off like an AI game,” they wrote. “Hopefully its temporary and gets better but killed it for me.”

Refractive Entertainment then responded directly to the review, explaining that the voice in question was not generated by AI at all.

“While my wife might not be the greatest voice actress out there (that was her first time), I can assure you she is a real person and not AI haha,” the developer said.

“We don’t use AI at all in our game, we’re just some indie game devs doing our thing with the resources we have.”

Commenters online worried that this will be a growing trend in gaming, especially in the indie developer space. “People will only mix up what’s AI and what is not more and more as AI gets better,” one said.

“This AI witch hunt is going too far,” another commented on Reddit. Others suggested that AI accusations should be restricted to those with real proof, rather than just a hunch.

Luminary has been a success for the developer, netting $100,000 in sales in the first week.

Steam has clear rules about games that actually do use AI, and has clarified what it deems as AI use.