Hank Azaria (3:27)

For example, let's take Mo. So this is what he sounds like. But there's inherent aggression in everything. Mo's, he's angry every.

Hank Azaria (3:35)

Oh, in all moments.

Hank Azaria (3:36)

There's hate underneath everything that he says. Chief Wiggum is inherently stupid. He doesn't understand almost anything. And there's a childlike innocence to him and I know a curiosity, a kind of wide eyed happiness just to be alive as long as there's a donut in his future, which there always is.

Hank Azaria (3:59)

Um, Snake is really sneaky. He's sizing you up always and trying to lull you to a sense of calm so that he can rob you. Those qualities, they're subtleties that are almost more the character than the sound of it itself. And I'm not sure the computer can or ever will be able to do it. What a hubris statement that was. Cut to me out of a job in the cold while computers are laughing at me in Mo's voice.

Hank Azaria (4:31)

Ah, you thought we couldn't do it, eh? How you like living on the street there, pal?

Hank Azaria (4:38)

So the creation of Mo and Chief Wiggum, they're good examples of what I'm talking about here as far as the human element in this kind of work goes.

Hank Azaria (4:46)

In the case of Mo, it started out as I loved Al Pacino as a kid and a teenager, so I did a young Al Pacino impression. Godfather Al, Dog Day Afternoon. And you know, I'm dying here. Everybody's coming down on me here that Al and I actually auditioned for the Simpsons. I was doing a play in la. I was playing a drug dealer and I thought the Al Pacino voice would be good for that. So I auditioned with this voice here.

Hank Azaria (5:19)

And they said they wanted it to be gravelly.

Hank Azaria (5:22)

So you take young Al Pacino and you make him gravelly and you get motor bartenders. So a lot of times it's like I got a bass voice I'm working with, then you give a little gravel on top. Lately I've been imitating Bruce Springsteen a lot.

Hank Azaria (5:37)

I got a Springsteen tribute Band.

Hank Azaria (5:40)

Another hero of mine since I was a teenager. And actually Mo is kind of halfway between Bruce and young Al Pacino. Right in the middle there.

Hank Azaria (5:50)

Motor bartender Agador Spartacus from the birdcage is my grandmother. We are Sephardic Jews, Spanish speaking Jews.

Hank Azaria (6:02)

And she sounded like this.

Hank Azaria (6:04)

And not only is a good example because she was very loving and maternal and feminine.

Hank Azaria (6:13)

So it isn't just the timber, this.

Hank Azaria (6:15)

Voice, it's also the affection and the maternal instincts that come through with this voice. And then there's a physicality to the characters that exists. If you're doing a scene where you're chopping wood, it helps to actually. I don't think Moe's ever chopped wood, but if he was, he's always like.

Hank Azaria (6:39)

Yeah, all right, well, get that going for you. As soon as I get this wood chop, man. It's hard chopping this wood, so you.

Hank Azaria (6:46)

Kind of gotta do it. It's hard to fake that quality in your voice unless you're exerting not only putting subtleties of emotion and motivation in, but yes, the physical exertion, the way emotion changes your voice. From what I've heard so far, AI can get pretty close, but pretty close, you know, only in horseshoes really, does that count. What AI can do is bring analysis and ideas. I believe Google has this app now. You can put in any piece of writing you like. My wife put in a poem she wrote some years ago and it will create a 15 minute podcast, a male AI voice and a female AI voice chatting about the poem. It was utterly convincing. It was very smart, incisive commentary. The voices were completely believable, including ums and pauses. It sounded extremely lifelike. Now, there wasn't a tremendous range of emotion. When I tried to make it try to be funny, it really fell short. But what it had to say was quite interesting. So it's like ChatGPT, right? It gives you some really good ideas. And, you know, if you don't like what the ChatGPT came up with on the first try, just hit a button and it'll endlessly try variations on it. You're eventually going to get an idea or two you like. It's a tool like any other. And, you know, similar to the vocal aspect, it still needs a human to bring it home, but it's an incredible aid along the way. Forgive me, my writer friends. You know, the way TV's done is there's a showrunner, a head writer, and there's a writing staff. I don't think you could replace the showrunners. I don't think you could replace the people with the vision and the real eye on the prize of creatively what we're going for here. But I'm pretty sure a head writer at this point doesn't need a staff. I'm pretty sure based on ChatGPT prompts and then just zhuzhing scripts that the ChatGPT generates. As long as he's rewriting it or she or they, I think that can be done. And I can't imagine it's too long from now that a studio is going to keep paying for what they know the computer can do for free. I look at the AI visually, vocally, from a writing standpoint. It's very exciting. I enjoy it. I think it's mind blowingly fascinating and fun to see the art and the songs I just came upon the AI generated. What if Led Zeppelin 2 was recorded in the 50s in rockabilly version? It's awesome. Way, way down inside Honey, you need it I'm gonna give you my love I'm gonna give you every inch of my love. I love LED Zepp and you know, I just find that really fun. I don't want to be replaced as a vocal performer in animation or on camera. By the same token, how fascinating that that can happen. I hope humans and AI can work together and collab. I mean, that's my hope, right?

Hank Azaria (10:13)

Like, I do a. Yeah, what's up, doc? I love Bugs Bunny. I do a sort of passable Bugs Bunny. What's up, doc?

Hank Azaria (10:23)

That's not too exact, but the computer could make it much more exact, especially if it's using my performance. And I'm probably a good enough performer and I know Bugs Bunny so well that I could probably. I could probably do it and we could tweak it to get it pretty much exactly like Mel Blanc sounded. But you still need someone like me, not just creating the voice to begin with, but also then knowing how to fix it once you hear it back. People are gonna listen to and enjoy and watch what they like. And if it's passable and if it's good, they're gonna like it and they're gonna listen to it and they're not gonna care whether AI generated it or human generated it or some combination of the two. Right now that just basic human response is going in my favor because I'm pretty confident that what AI generates by itself as Motor, Bartender or anything else isn't going to cut it. But if it does start to cut it, people are going to listen to it and they're going to be grateful that it's so readily available. I mean, look what happened, you know, to the music industry. I cried a tear because the record industry reinvented itself. I got to listen to all the music for free all of a sudden. So I don't think people are going to feel much differently about any of this.

Host of The Opinions (12:15)

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