Persona 5 Voice Actor Deletes Twitter Account Following Backlash Over AI Cover Song

Prolific voice actor Erica Lindbeck, who’s played roles in games such as Fire Emblem Engage, God of War Ragnarok, and, most pertinent for this story, Persona 5, recently deleted her Twitter account following her admonishment of an AI cover song that used a recreation of her performance as Futaba Sakura.

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The exact details of this situation are currently unknown, as, with her account being deleted, it’s hard to find what she said when she first reprimanded the video, nor what people’s responses were. However, the tweets below, which she seemingly posted after her original criticism of the AI cover song, give a bit more context to her perspective and shows regret over the cover song’s creator apparently being “dogpiled.”

The song in question is Bo Burnham’s Welcome to the Internet, which, though it’s a song meant to satirically criticize what it talks about, does have a lot of explicit words and ideas, so it’s fair that Lindbeck had an issue with her voice being used for it. And as she elaborated above, the mere concept of her voice being used in AI content is not something she’s comfortable with, as it can literally make her say things she never would, such as criticizing shows or games she’s worked on.

It’s still unclear what was said to her that made her delete her account, but users on Twitter have come out in droves to support her, even getting her name trending. Most agree that Lindbeck was right to lambast the unauthorized use of her voice, that it’s valid for her to feel uncomfortable with her voice being used to say explicit things, that her comment on the matter was polite, and that, in fact, it was her who was eventually harassed off the social media platform.

There is a minority on the other end though, who believe that an AI cover of that nature is harmless, as it’s clearly not her real voice, and that her original comment worked to single out the song’s creator.

Whether to show support for the original creator or to capitalize on the drama, many have re-uploaded the cover, but, for what it’s worth, it’s really nothing exceptional. The AI recreation isn’t the best, and it doesn’t even sing the tune in the right pitch. If you’re interested in what the song says, you can check out Burnham’s original version here.

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