Written by Blake Britten
(Reuters) – Two voice actors sued artificial intelligence startup Lovo in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday, accusing the company of illegally copying their voices and using them in AI voiceover technology without their permission.
Paul Lehmann and Linnea Sage allege in a proposed class action lawsuit that San Francisco-based Lovo is tricking people into providing audio samples and selling AI versions of their voices without their permission. Stated. The actors are seeking at least $5 million in damages from the class and accusing Lobo of fraud, false advertising and violation of publicity rights.
The lawsuit is the latest in a growing wave of high-stakes lawsuits in which technology companies are accused of misusing content such as books, news articles, and song lyrics to power AI-generating systems.
“We want to prevent this from happening to other people,” Pollock Cohen lawyer Steve Cohen, who is representing the plaintiffs, told Reuters.
Representatives for Lobo did not respond to requests for comment.
According to the complaint, Lehman and Sage were approached to provide voiceover work to anonymous clients on the freelancer marketplace Fiverr. Lehmann was told her voice would only be used for “research projects,” and Sage was told her voice would only be used for “test scripts for radio ads,” according to the lawsuit.
Instead, Lehman then heard an AI version of his voice in a YouTube video about Russian military equipment and in a podcast episode about “the dangers of AI technology,” according to the complaint. He added that Sage's voice was used to narrate Lovo's promotional materials.
Lehmann later learned that Fiber's customers were Lovo employees, according to the lawsuit.
The actors filed the lawsuit on behalf of a group of people who are believed to have misused their voices. The complaint alleges that Lovo's website also offers similar sounds of famous people with names such as “Barack Yo Mama,” “Mark Zuckerpunch,” and “Cocoon O'Brien.”
The case is Lehrman v. Lovo Inc, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:24-cv-03770.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham and David Barrio)
