Or "My Complicated Experiences with AI"
My Personal Voiceover Background
I know that most of you probably don't know me all that well. This persona, the "JoJoDaLo" identity wasn't one I came up with for this website/Swappa. I originally did some YouTube videos. You can still find the channel, but I've privated the videos and shorts on it.
As a kid I loved cartoons. The idea of one day being a voice actor lasted all the way through college and into my 20s. I decided in 2025 I wanted to take a more serious attempt at it. So, I bought a microphone and audio interface, made a basic booth at my desk, and got to work.
I was shocked when I actually started getting voiceover gigs. My very first one was as a clown for a radio advertisement. Then I got accepted in SkyWind playing various Khajit townspeople. I even got a well-paying gig for a podcast that hasn't come out (and unfortunately, may never). I was making around $100-150/month on average and having a blast. I was enjoying my childhood dream! Nothing could kill my momentum now.
What Killed My Momentum
AI. I don't mean that hyperbolically or unrealistically. AI genuinely left me quitting voiceover work entirely.
Genuinely, AI caused a lot of issues for most of the online Voiceover community. It started with more and more of the voiceover roles becoming "Training Data" gigs or "ElevenLabs VO" gigs where you would record once and then never be hired again. At first, they were annoying but ignorable. Eventually, people would just stop telling you that the audition you were signing up for was to train an AI replacement/clone. Now I would have to carefully sift through auditions to verify they weren't going to take my voice.
Then came the AI scams.
Around February of 2026, I came across folks posting about being accepted to "VoiceBox Talents". It was supposedly an agency hiring voice actors for recording opportunities. Their website was AI generated, they boasted services (like song creation and editing) with no employees for them, and their only collabs were with AI training brands. I called that out and was soon proven right.
Fewer and fewer gigs were showing up, and most of the ones that were here I didn't trust. I thought that maybe I could just post to YouTube and see if that would generate some interest. But then I got anxious. What if someone just took recordings from YouTube and used that as training data? I know I was a nobody in the grand scheme of things, but given the John Lennon and Elon Musk and Will Smith scam videos (along with only needing about 1 minute of quality voice recording to train AI with), I didn't want to take that chance.
If You Can't Beat AI, Join AI?
When I realized "That's It, I can't compete" I was crushed. I took down my booth and stored it in the shed, let folks know that I was leaving the space, and slunk off into the shadows. I watched AI get better, more efficient, and do exactly what I feared to other people. I stopped sharing art online entirely. Parts of me yearn to do it again... but for what gain? I've thought about sharing videos of fixing up the arcade cabinet or computers... but do I really want to throw over a voice filter, never show my face, and wear a mask just to avoid AI stealing my likeness?
Since I work in IT, I did need to understand how AI works. I got a year of Perplexity Pro entirely free, and decided to give it an earnest try. It seemed like an inevitability that I would need to adapt to rather than fight against.
And now? I use it a lot. I've generated the code for this website and now found a way to automate tasks like making this blog post. I've done a bit of vibe coding for a CLI Password manager. I have it parse log files when I don't want to search through them. It's... great.
One the one hand, I hate what the internet has become now because of AI. I hate how scams have received a massive production boost. I avoid generating pictures, audio, and video like the plague. I will disclose all AI usage so folks who hate AI can avoid the things I'm doing. And I want much stronger regulation on the industry and far stronger protections for actors.
On the other hand, AI has genuinely made my job and life easier in ways I did not expect. I've seen friends who were once staunchly anti-AI admit they use it for a springboard or assistance on a challenging task. Once the regulations I want happen, I will be far more receptive to AI generated art and content.
Sometimes I look back at that dream. I would still love to do voice acting. But I unfortunately think the dream is gone. At least with posting it online and sharing my voice for free. Once other monetization models come out show promise... maybe you'll catch me again.