Hank Azaria Tries to See If AI Could Ever Replace His Iconic Character Voices on ‘The Simpsons’
In a rather informative opinion piece for The New York Times the very talented Hank Azaria seriously wondered if AI could ever replace the voice work he does on The Simpsons and set up a voice experiment at The New York Times office to test out his theory. The answer was a resounding “No”, at least for now, as machine learning is missing one crucial component.
Hank Azaria, the man who breathed life into some of the most iconic characters on “The Simpsons,” argues that there is a lot more to voicing a character than just opening your mouth. It’s a full-bodied performance informed by a character’s fears and motivations, by their humanness. And when it comes to the human condition, it takes one to know one — for now at least.
Azaria Reads ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ In ‘Simpsons’ Voices
Azaria also read the opening prologue from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens in nine of his distinctive character voices from The Simpsons over the course of 70 seconds.
“A Tale of Two Cities,” as read by Hank Azaria as Moe the bartender, Chief Wiggum, Snake Jailbird, Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel, Professor Frink, Superintendent Chalmers, Comic Book Guy, the Sea Captain and Duffman.
