Cyberpunk 2077 is all about the distant future and advancing technology, so it seems pretty fitting that CD Projekt Red used artificial intelligence to replace Polish actor Miłogost Reczek, who played the first doc you see, Viktor Vektor. The actor passed away in 2021, and with Phantom Liberty poised to see Vektor back, the team needed to make a choice.
According to a statement from Bloomberg (via VGC), the studio kicked around re-recording his lines with a new actor but sidelined that because it felt like it would disrespect the actor. Instead, CDPR got permission from Reczek’s family and enlisted a new actor to become a voice dummy effectively.
Using Respeecher, the new actor’s voice was replaced with an AI version of the popular Polish actor. In and of itself, this could be argued as disrespectful in its own way, as the actor himself didn’t give permission to use his voice after his death, and we don’t actually publicly know his stance on using AI in the entertainment industry as a whole. To some, it could’ve been more worthwhile to just rework Vektor out of his minor role.
What do you think? Are you for Cyberpunk 2077’s use of AI? Are you against it? Let us know below!
