There’s been a lot of talk about AI and its effect on the voiceover industry. Like any innovation, there’s no way to stop it. If a business wants to use AI tools to create a voiceover, that’s their prerogative. It’s also important to remember that any new tech is disruptive at first, but eventually settles into its niche. After all, video games didn’t bring an end to board games.

It’s been argued, that most people won’t even recognize an AI voice from a human voice, and fair enough. If people don’t know the difference, then what’s the difference? But if they do notice the difference, you’ve got a few problems. And these are not budgetary, efficiency, or even ethical issues. They are branding issues.

1) Credibility
We’ve all experienced this one. You’re watching a video or ad. The voice sounds professional at first, but then you start seeing the cracks. You hear the stiffness and the unnatural inflections. Once you know it’s not a real person, the ad suddenly feels cheap. When the ad feels faceless and fake, so does the company behind it.

2) Identity
In sonic branding, we put a very fine point on how all audio touchpoints should sound. This often includes the spoken voice. Just like the visual, we want the sound to be as distinctive and unique (and human) as possible. This is not just in the timbre of the voice, but its delivery and personality. The machine knows how to do the task, but it doesn’t know why it’s doing the task. It may be able to solve your voice problem, but if your brand media is so generic that it can be performed by said machine, you may have a brand problem.

3) Perception
Some businesses build their brand on being personal and human. For example, they might pride themselves on having a real person answer the phone. Unfortunately, even the most personal business will eventually have to put someone on-hold. This is where the walk and the talk can become misaligned. The phrase “your call is important to us” is frustrating enough, but there’s a certain irony in having it said by a machine.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with using AI, but like any other tech innovation, you have to see past its implementation and look at its effect. And that effect has to be more than just minimizing expenses. Is it giving you an edge over your competition, or is it making your media more generic? Good brands are distinctive. They’re the ones that stand out. They’re the ones that succeed.