As conversations around AI continue to grow across the entertainment industry, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth actress Briana White, who plays Aerith Gainsborough, has spoken candidly about her concerns as a creator. One of the most recent titles she has appeared in is Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and in the wake of that release, White shared her perspective on how AI is affecting artists, particularly as companies look for ways to create more while spending less.
White expanded on those concerns by drawing from her experience as both an actor and a streamer following Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. She explained that thousands of hours of her voice and personality already exist online through streaming, making it easier for AI systems to replicate a performance without consent. While White acknowledged that AI has the potential to be a useful tool, even for gaming, and believes it is not going away, she stressed that the technology is advancing faster than meaningful conversations around ethics, ownership, and compensation for the people whose work is being used.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Briana White Feels AI Is Robbing Creators of Their Uniqueness
During a recent interview on Game Rant’s Character Select with Naomi Kyle, voice of Aerith Gainsborough in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Briana White spoke at length about the growing tension between creativity and efficiency as AI becomes more widely adopted in gaming and other media. She explained that while businesses naturally see AI as a way to produce more while spending less, that promise comes at a cost for the people whose work is being used to train those systems.
“It’s sort of an interesting place to be an actor and streamer,” White said in reference to her career and her side hustle as Twitch streamer TheStrangeRebel. “Everybody who is a business person wants to do more, spending less money, and that is something AI is touted to be able to do. But everyone who creates is panicking because what we create has value. What we’re creating is being stolen from us.”
White did clarify that she isn’t necessarily afraid of the technology itself. In fact, she described AI as something similar to the internet in terms of how it can open doors for learning and access. “I think, like the internet, AI is a democratizer,” she said. “I think it has beautiful capabilities to teach people who need to be taught different ways. I think it can help people think differently.” However, she questioned where that intelligence is coming from, and whether the people whose work fuels those systems are being considered at all.
That question becomes more complicated given White’s dual role as both an actor and a streamer. She pointed out that she has spent years building an online presence, including hundreds, if not thousands, of hours streaming and speaking on camera. “At this point, I have hundreds, if not thousands of hours of me just talking and playing video games online,” White said. “That could be fed into AI, along with other streamers, to create a fake actor.”
Everyone who creates is panicking because what we create has value. What we’re creating is being stolen from us.
For White, the idea is unsettling not because of competition, but because of identity. “That’s weird when I’ve spent a lifetime crafting me, and my entire career depends on me being me,” she said. She emphasized that an actor’s voice, mannerisms, and presence are not interchangeable assets, but the result of years of work that AI can now mimic without permission.
Despite those concerns, White does not believe the solution is to reject AI outright. She said the debate over whether AI will continue is largely settled in her mind. “I’m on the side of AI is happening, so let’s figure out how to do it right,” she said. For actors, that means clear rules around consent, credit, and compensation when their likeness or voice is used.
“If an AI model uses my likeness to learn what a human looks and sounds like, and then my likeness is used to create AI work, I should get credit, recognition, and pay,” White said. She stressed that the rush to implement AI has moved far faster than the ethical conversations needed to protect creators, leaving many performers struggling to keep up while their work is already being used.
White’s comments come at a time when concerns around AI are growing across the industry, particularly for performers whose work, including recent appearances in games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, exists in digital spaces that are increasingly easy to replicate. For White, however, the issue is not whether AI will be part of the future, but whether creators will ultimately have any say in how that future is built.
- Released
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February 29, 2024
- ESRB
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T For Teen Due To Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
