"Not Cool. Not Classy" - Tomb Raider Co-Creator Responds To Remaster AI Accusations 1
Image: Crystal Dynamics / Dark Horse Comics

Update #2 []: Aspyr has released a hotfix for the second patch for Tomb Raider IV–V–VI Remastered which removes AI-generated vocals from the game.

"We've addressed this issue by removing all AI voiceover content, while retaining the improvements made in the previous update. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please reach out to our customer support site with any issues."

Update #1 []: Françoise Cadol, the French actor who overdubbed the character of Lara Croft in the Angelina Jolie-led movies and lent her voice to the French versions of the original '90s games, has taken legal action against Aspyr Media following accusations that her voice was replicated using AI in the recent Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered (thanks, Game Developer).

Cadol says she became aware of the situation after the package was updated in August, and she noticed differences between the game and her original performances.

Cadol's legal team has filed a formal notice demanding that the collection be withdrawn from sale, and is also requested data on how many copies have been sold.

Cadol's lawyer, Jonathan Elkaim, said:

"You immediately notice that there's a very strong metallic impact, it's very choppy, lacking in intonation, or on the contrary, poorly performed. But the timbre is reminiscent of Françoise's."

Original Story: Tomb Raider IV–V–VI Remastered has given Lara Croft fans both old and new a means of reconnecting with her past adventures, but recent updates to the collection have attracted criticism from some sectors of the community due to the alleged use of Generative AI to produce new spoken dialogue.

Tomb Raider fan account @infinitytombraider.bsky.social spotted something was amiss when the latest patch went live. It was suggested that restored lines in the French version of the game were created using Gen AI based on the voice of Françoise Cadol, Lara Croft's voice actor.

The account later claimed that Cadol was not asked to record any new voicelines, and "did not give her consent for any subsequent use of her voice, especially with AI. She only recently found out about the remasters."

The furore has reached the point where Paul Douglas, who co-created the original Tomb Raider with Toby Gard in 1996, has decided to add his own opinion to the mix:

This isn't an issue that is unique to Tomb Raider, by any means. French voice actors have recently launched the #TouchePasMaVF (“Don’t Touch My French Version”) campaign in an effort to prevent their voice work from being used to train AI models.

We've reached out to Aspyr and will update this post if and when we hear back.

[source bsky.app]