AI Helped Polish Geralt Voice Actor Return for The Witcher 3's New Expansion

CD Projekt Red's surprise expansion for The Witcher 3, titled Songs of the Past, features AI-assisted voice recordings for the Polish version of Geralt. Original actor Jacek Rozenek, who suffered a stroke in 2019, saw his voice change during recovery, making new recordings clash with the original game's lines. With Rozenek's approval, the studio worked with Ukrainian company Respeecher to train an AI model on his past performances.

Respeecher previously helped CDPR with a Cyberpunk 2077 character whose actor had died. For this project, CDPR provided all of Rozenek's original Witcher 3 recordings to train the AI. Respeecher's Dmytry Vasylets said the goal was to make Rozenek's voice sound alive, rich, and young like in the original game. The retouched audio reportedly sounded smoother and younger than the base recordings, which localization producer Mikołaj Szwed described as much lower and gruffer.

Rozenek expressed trust in the creators and wanted the voice to be as close as possible to his from 12 years ago. CDPR acknowledges broader concerns about generative AI in game development, but Szwed stressed this was a special case due to Rozenek's health. The studio's contracts require consent for any AI work, and Szwed believes this represents an ethical use of AI with consent to achieve a positive outcome.