Fancy 'chatting' with Dr. Jose Rizal? A veteran voice artist develops an AI Rizal for that

Pocholo Gonzales is a veteran Filipino voiceover artist and mentor who has developed an AI project that lets users talk to Jose Rizal. 

Called "Conversations with Rizal,"  the AI agent features Gonzales’ voice as the Philippine National Hero. It launches on Rizal Day, and will initially be available for three months.

The AI version of Rizal is able to talk to users and interact with them in Tagalog, English, German, and many more languages, just like the famed polyglot. 

According to Amazon Web Services, an AI Agent is “a software program that can interact with its environment, collect data, and use the data to perform self-determined tasks to meet predetermined goals.”  

The project was 20 years in the making, with Gonzales pouring out his passion and money to allow users to have a conversation with Rizal. 

GMA News Online spoke with Gonzales about this passion project, what it means to him, and hopefully, to every Filipino.

Conversations with Rizal

The AI Rizal is able to speak about his life experiences, and his novels like “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo.”

The project took 20 years in the making, beginning with Gonzales’ self-studies of AI starting from the early days of the Internet. “Dun ako nagkaroon ng interest. Sabi ko one day, I want to create, I want to put my voice in artificial intelligence so that many people can use it.”

According to Gonzales, he did not compromise the accuracy of Rizal’s life. For the AI initiative, he poured over books about and written by the National Hero. The project’s content is based on these as well as Rizal’s diaries.

Gonzales also did the programming and coding of Conversations with Rizal with the help of CreatiVoices Labs, the company he founded that combines “advanced AI with voice artistry, offering ethical, lifelike voices and top audio solutions for media and beyond.”

When the tool is opened, users can ask Rizal to speak Tagalog, English, Spanish, and other languages the hero was fluent in like Japanese and German.

As the voice, Gonzales learns the languages and records himself, speaking the way he imagines the hero would sound like in real life, with the Spanish style of speaking in Tagalog and the Laguna accent.

Gonzales recorded the voice in 2014 when he was 35 years old, just like Jose Rizal when he died.

According to Gonzales, Rizal has been his personal hero since childhood and looks at Conversations with Rizal as a way for him to honor his hero. 

Calling Rizal his "mentor," Gonzales said his nationalism, education, and youth empowerment are values he also tries to live with. 

Gonzales also made sure that users will respect the AI Rizal, limiting the tool’s knowledge to Rizal’s real-life experiences during his time.

“Limited lang niya sa kung ano alam niya. Hindi siya ‘yung masyadong matalino na lahat alam," he said. "Wala siyang opinyon sa lahat, ibig sabihin. May opinyon lang siya sa mga bagay na nakakaapekto sa kanya.” 

For example, when the AI tool is asked a personal question such as “How do I deal with stress?” Rizal will speak about his past experiences and give advice based on those. The AI does not provide comments on today’s political climate, modern pop culture, and the like.

“Hindi mo siyang maloloko. Sabihin niyang, ‘I cannot answer that because I’m not part of your world,’” Gonzales explained.

He hopes to open donations to maintain the project after its three-month period. He also aims to partner with the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and institution schools to allow students to use the tool in classes.

“Excited ako dito para sa kabataang Pilipino,” Gonzales said.

The VoiceMaster

Gonzales is dubbed the VoiceMaster of the project.

His artistic journey started from childhood. With no television in their home, Gonzales grew up being entertained by the radio, and impersonating all the various voices he would hear.

As he grew older, Gonzales continued learning about the artistry as a triple major in Speech Communication, Theater Arts, and English Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines Diliman. This was also where he had a more in-depth experience learning about Philippine history.

Gonzales’ decades-long career spans a variety of ads, dubbing, reporting, and acting roles on television and radio.

With influences from renowned Filipino impersonators like Willie “Willie Nep” Nepomuceno, Neil Ocampo, and Willy Sarion, Gonzales can likewise act like politicians President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, former Presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, Rodrigo Duterte, and many more. Gonzales can also impersonate the voices of Dolphy Quizon, Fernando Poe Jr., Babalu, and many more.

Gonzales was one of the voices of Kiko Matsing on “Batibot,” PenPen on “Makulay ng Buhay,” and the title characters on “Bubu Chacha,” among many others. His personal favorite role was as Shancai’s father in the Philippine dub of “Meteor Garden.”  

He also has experience in AI voicing, and is heard in the narration of users’ Instagram Reels and TikToks.

Gonzales is also a mentor and conducts workshops, and said he is “the man behind a thousand voices.” He guided Dingdong Dantes for his voice role in “Kubot,” coached Daniel Matsunaga’s Tagalog speaking skills, and trained former Philippine Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay in public speaking. 

Purpose

Though he is already an industry veteran, Gonzales’ purpose remains clear.

“I believe that our voice is a gift from God, and it’s how we use it, it’s our gift back to God,” he said. “Without our voice, we are nothing. Binigyan tayo ng Diyos ng libreng boses, libreng buhay. Ibalik natin sa Diyos ‘yan ng tama.”

Gonzales adds that he loves what he does. “Because for me, if you love what you’re doing, it’s as if you’re already resting all your life. You’re not going to work a single day because you love what you’re doing.”

He added, “I treat voice acting as an art and I use my voice to create positive social change.” His purpose, in turn, is what guided him into the Conversations with Rizal initiative.

Click here to access Conversations with Rizal.

— LA, GMA Integrated News