Last of Us voice actor Troy Baker promotes ?voice NFTs,? drawing ire

While the actual real-world implementation of those voice-based NFTs is unclear, Baker’s backing of the new scheme was met with massive blowback Friday when he announced his involvement on Twitter.Baker announced he was throwing his weight behind NFTs, a controversial blockchain-built technology that purports to offer ownership claims of digital assets, in a tweet promoting Voiceverse, which says it will provide “unlimited, perpetual access to the underlying AI voice that the NFT represents ownership of.” “If you own a Voice NFT, you can create all kinds of voice content, and you will OWN all of the IP,” Voiceverse says.It’s not clear exactly what Baker’s involvement is with Voiceverse, as the voice actor said he’s partnering with the company “to explore ways where together we might bring new tools to new creators to make new things, and allow everyone a chance to own & invest in the IP’s they create.” Voiceverse is only on step one of its planned roadmap, so Baker’s pie-in-the-sky description of his partnership role is appropriately vague.I’m partnering with @VoiceverseNFT to explore ways where together we might bring new tools to new creators to make new things, and allow everyone a chance to own & invest in the IP’s they create. The voice actor later responded to the blowback saying that he “always want to be a part of the conversation, even if sometimes that finds me in the midst of a loud one” and that he “appreciate[s] y’all sharing your thoughts and giving me a lot to think about.” He added, as an apparent semi-apology, “The ‘hate/create’ part might have been a bit antagonistic…”Regardless of response, Baker and his fellow voice actors do not appear to be distancing themselves from Voiceverse, which says on its website that owners will be able to use its voice NFTs “for in-game chats, zoom calls, YouTube & Tiktok, and create whatever content you desire.”On Twitter, Voiceverse’s creators attempted to explain “why our Voice NFTs are different from just owning jpegs,” referring to a more common form of NFT ownership of digital images and movies.They added, over a series of tweets:1/8Voice NFTs provide unlimited, perpetual access to the underlying AI voice that the NFT represents ownership of.