Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Star Backs Generative AI Acting, Betting Power Will Shift to Creators
Prepare for a creative eruption—and sweeping changes that could rewrite the rules.
Every now and then someone in the trenches says the quiet part out loud. This time it is Jim High, the guy playing Erik (the big bad) in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and he is not running from generative AI. Cautious? Yes. Weirdly optimistic? Also yes.
High’s take: change is coming, but it does not have to be a bloodbath
In a chat with GamesRadar+, High acknowledges the obvious: generative AI is going to shake things up fast, and that makes people nervous, especially folks whose jobs are in the blast radius. But he also thinks there is a version of this future where actors are not replaced so much as amplified — especially in performance capture work where actors can spin up multiple character variants and approaches without losing the human spark.
"My hope is that that power will come to the creator. I think they are always — for performances and things like that — you are always going to need a puppeteer of some sort, whether that is inside it, or controlling it with dials, and what have you. So I do not think that creative process will ever go away, I hope. But there is this possibility for some amazing creative stuff to happen, as well as a lot of changes."
- He is skeptical about the pace: expects rapid, disruptive shifts.
- He sees practical upside: AI plus mocap could let actors play more roles in more ways.
- He draws a line: there still has to be a human steering the performance.
Why that is a spicy stance right now
On the publisher side, the biggest companies in games — Ubisoft, EA, Take-Two — have been very public about betting on AI. On the acting side, it has been a lot frostier. AI protections were a key sticking point in SAG-AFTRA’s months-long 2023 strike, and the broader worry about studios cutting corners with AI is not exactly theoretical for performers. So hearing an actor in a headline release look for a middle path stands out.
What he is actually advocating
High is basically arguing for AI as a tool, not a replacement: let it expand what performers can do in a session, let it multiply creative options, but keep a human in charge of the choices. Think "more knobs to turn" in production, not "swap the actor for a model." It is a nuanced position that tries to balance job security with the reality that the tech is not going back in the box.
Meanwhile, in Kingdom Come land...
Separate from High’s comments, there is a little franchise chatter: the series lead recently teased "something new on the horizon" as the action RPG’s final DLC went live, which has fans speculating about what Warhorse Studios might be cooking up next. File that under: probably related, definitely worth keeping an eye on.