Greg Marston, a highly experienced British voice actor, recently made a surprising discovery online. He stumbled upon his own voice being used for a demo on a website called Revoicer. Revoicer offers an innovative AI tool that converts text into speech in multiple languages and with various intonations, moods, and styles. Marston had no recollection of granting consent for his voice to be cloned using AI, so he reached out to the company. Revoicer explained that they had purchased his voice from IBM. Back in 2005, Marston had signed a contract with IBM for a job involving a satnav system. Little did he know, the contract included a clause that granted IBM the right to sell his voice to third parties, who could then clone it using AI for any commercial purpose. IBM has acknowledged Marston’s concerns and is currently in direct discussions with him.
Mathilde Pavis, a lawyer specializing in digital cloning technologies and representative of Marston, noted that he finds himself in a challenging situation. As a voice actor still active in the field, Marston is essentially competing with his own voice. Pavis emphasizes that while Marston may have signed a contract many years ago, there was no anticipation of his voice being cloned using unforeseen technology two decades later.
Marston is not the only one facing this dilemma. Numerous voiceover and performance artists are now dealing with the consequences of the rapid commercialization of generative AI. Voice synthesizing technology has significantly improved, becoming more accurate, accessible, and easy to produce. This has resulted in the emergence of new business models centered around AI cloning. Artists who rely on their voices and appearances are now witnessing the potential exploitation of their talents through unfair contracts, data scraping methods, and scams. Consequently, their work and rights are rapidly eroding.
Pavis claims to have received at least 45 inquiries related to AI since January 2021. These inquiries include instances where actors hear their voices being used in phone scams, such as fraudulent insurance calls or AI-generated advertisements. Equity, the trade union for the performing arts and entertainment industry in the UK, has also received multiple complaints concerning AI scams and exploitation over the past six months. Liam Budd, an official at Equity, states that members of the union are increasingly finding their voices, images, and likenesses being used to create new performances using AI technology, often without their consent. The vast data sets collected by AI developers rob performers of necessary protection.
Laurence Bouvard, a London-based voice actor working in audio books, advertisements, and radio dramas, has personally encountered exploitative practices. She has received Facebook alerts warning her about fake casting opportunities, where AI websites ask actors to read out recipes or lines of meaningless text. These requests are merely vehicles to gather voice data for AI models. Some job advertisements deceitfully introduce AI synthesization clauses in contracts, while others openly offer meager compensation in exchange for permanent voice rights. For example, a recent advertisement on Mandy.com described a half-day job recording a five-minute script on video to create AI presenters for a tech company called D-ID. The ad boasted of their work for Microsoft’s training videos, but in return, the actor’s image and likeness would only fetch a flat fee of £600.
D-ID clarified that it pays “fair market prices” and stated that the mentioned advertisement was withdrawn and did not reflect the final payment structure.
Bouvard voiced her concerns at an event organized by the Trades Union Congress in Westminster, highlighting the fact that AI companies exploit performers by using their data to create products meant to replace them. She stressed the lack of protection under current legislation and the dire need to safeguard what it means to be an artist.
Marcus Hutton, a voice actor with three decades of experience, has compiled a list of over 60 performance-synthesis or AI companies, many of which have received substantial venture capital funding. Hutton argues that there is a clear financial transfer from the creative sector to the tech sector, as money is being diverted away from artists.
ElevenLabs, one of the AI companies on Hutton’s list, expressed a willingness to work with voice actors and their representatives to explore more commercial opportunities in the sector. The company believes that AI and creative communities can collaborate to generate revenue while enabling content creators to produce even better content with global accessibility.
According to a survey conducted by Equity, around 94% of workers in the creative industries earn less than the UK’s median full-time pay of £33,280 per year. These low wages make artists particularly vulnerable in negotiations. Pavis argues that AI has further weakened their position in an industry that frequently exploits artists with unfair contracts. Revoicer, the AI voice company, claims that Marston’s voice originated from IBM’s cloud text-to-speech service, which Revoicer had purchased from IBM, like many other developers. Artists have limited legal recourse, as AI falls under data privacy laws, and the UK government aims for light-touch intellectual property regulations that foster AI innovation.
Hutton, Bouvard, and other Equity members are advocating for new rights to be protected by law. Specifically, they want time-limited contracts rather than perpetual rights and explicit consent requirements if an artist’s voice or likeness is to be cloned by AI. In response, Equity recently released a “toolkit” that provides model clauses and contracts for artists and their agents to refer to regarding AI usage.
Hutton, a working actor focused on everyday roles, expresses his pessimism about the future of the industry. He believes it is no longer sustainable.
In conclusion, the rise of AI technology in cloning voices and performances poses significant challenges to voice actors and performers. The exploitation of their talents through unfair contracts, data scraping, and scams threatens their livelihoods and erodes their rights. Artists are calling for new legal protections that encompass time-limited contracts and explicit consent requirements to safeguard their work and preserve the industry’s integrity.
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