- author, Ben Draco
- position, Technology reporter, BBC News
We have heard many times in recent years that artificial intelligence will one day take our jobs.
But it felt like an unexpected disaster to Paul Skylerman when he heard his voice being used one day.
During June 2023, Paul and his partner Lena Sage were traveling by car near their home in New York. He was listening to a podcast that said there was a strike going on in Hollywood and that artists were worried that artificial intelligence would put them out of work.
This podcast was interesting for the couple as both are voice over artists. They also used to fear that ‘voice generators’ that speak like humans might replace them.
An AI chatbot was being interviewed during the podcast. The chatbot also had text-to-speech software installed. It was being told that artificial intelligence could even make Hollywood workers jobless.
But when the chatbot started talking, it sounded like Lerman. “We parked the car to one side,” he recalls.
‘Artificial intelligence is shaping the entertainment industry and ironically, my own voice is telling me that the industry is potentially on the brink of collapse. It was surprising to me.’
That night the couple began investigating online to find out how their voice was stolen.
They reached out to Luowah, a text-to-speech platform. Also available was a voiceover of Lerman’s partner Sage. “I was shocked,” she says. I couldn’t believe it.’
“A technology company stole our voices, created AI clones of them and sold them potentially millions of times,” she says.
The couple has now filed a lawsuit against Luoah. The company has not yet responded to the BBC’s query.
‘The Clone Wars’
How did the technology company Lowe create so many voice copies? The couple alleged that this was done as part of a malicious scheme.
Luoah co-founder Tom Lee has said in the past that voice cloning software can create your voice clone with just 50 sentences.
He said during a podcast that the software can replicate everything, including voice tone, individuality and style.
In the lawsuit, the pair described how Lowe recorded their voices.
They allege that company employees contacted them anonymously on popular freelancing website Fiver to record their voices.
Both of them continue to lend their services there for voice-overs, such as for television, radio, video games or other content.
During 2019, Sage was contacted by a customer and received audio samples as test recordings of a radio script.
Test recordings are often made while a film or TV show is in progress. These recordings are used during focus groups, meetings or artist shoots. Since these sounds are not widely used, they cost less.
When Sage completed these recordings and completed the file transfer, he was paid $400.
Six months later Lerman was offered a similar offer. They were told that voice recordings were required for radio commercials.
An anonymous Fiver user told them that the audio would only be used for research. They were guaranteed that it would not be used outside. But he was also told that ‘I cannot tell you what his purpose is. This work is being done in secrecy.’
Lerman was paid $1,200 for the work.
He later learned from the same technology company that this unknown user was actually working for Luoah. The company cited that conversation as saying they did nothing wrong.
Lerman says he’s “delivered over a hundred thousand audio recordings” on Fiver over the past decade.
Lerman and Sage had no formal contract with the company. They only have conversations with an unknown user.
The BBC has not been able to independently confirm the conversation. Some of the messages have now been deleted, the couple says. Luoha was contacted about these allegations, but no response was received from him.
What does the law say about this?
The lawsuit accuses Lowe of creating voice clones of Lerman and Sage, which are now competitors, without permission and without compensation. The couple hopes more people will come forward in the case.
This is a case of Rights of Publicity, also known as Personality Rights, under US law. This includes violations that fall under the category of misusing someone’s image or voice.
Professor Cristelia Garcia is from Georgetown University in Washington and is an expert in intellectual property law.
She says it could potentially involve a breach of contract claim with Sage and Lerman. A license allows for something specific. (eg) You may be allowed to use my swimming pool for an evening. It doesn’t mean you can use my swimming pool whenever you want.’
‘Doing so violates the license.’
Whatever the outcome of the case, a number of lawsuits have been filed by writers, artists and others in the US claiming that their jobs have been affected by artificial intelligence.
Financial giant Klarna has said it will halve its workforce by using artificial intelligence.
Some experts say that 40% of jobs will be affected by artificial intelligence.
“This event is unbelievable,” says Sage.
‘When we thought about artificial intelligence we thought it would fold our laundry or cook for us.
‘We didn’t know that artificial intelligence would take over the creativity of humans.’