Elianel Clinton/New York Times/Redux
Voice actors Linnea Sage and Paul Lehman in New York on May 14, 2024. Sage and Lehmann are suing an AI company for cloning their voices without their permission.
new york
CNN
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Voice actor Paul Lehmann went into the job in 2020 believing he was providing a one-off audio sample. Years later, he said he heard his voice on his YouTube video and then on a podcast. However, he never recorded either video.
Lehmann, along with fellow voice actor Linnea Sage, is currently suing AI company Lovo for commissioning voice projects under false pretenses in order to create and sell AI-generated versions of their voices. The Berkeley, California-based technology company is touting its AI-generated voice technology for use in marketing, education, and product demos.
Lehman and Sage are suing Lobo and seeking class-action status to include others whose “voices and identities were stolen and used,” according to a complaint filed Thursday in the Southern District of New York. It is said that there is The complaint was first reported by the New York Times.
The voice actors' lawsuit is part of a recent series of lawsuits filed by creators, writers, and artists against various technology companies alleging that their work was used without permission to train AI systems that could ultimately compete with them. This is just the latest in a series of lawsuits. Such lawsuits have raised concerns about how the data-intensive training of AI models could violate copyright and intellectual property laws.
“Implicit in LOVO's service to customers is each voice-over actor's agreement to LOVO's Terms of Use to enable customers to access that actor's voice,” the complaint states. Are listed. However, to Mr. Lehman, Mr. Sage, and “others who have not agreed to LOVO's terms, Plaintiffs' continued unauthorized use of their audio constitutes theft and misappropriation of their services.”
Lobo did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
In May 2020, Lehrman said he received a request for narration audio services from an account called “User25199087” on the gig work website Fiverr. when he asked what The suit says they were told that the audio samples would be used “for academic research purposes only” and that the “scripts would not be used for any other purpose.” He was paid $1,200 for the work, according to the complaint.
Two years later, Lehmann discovered a YouTube video in which he appeared to be narrating with his own voice, but Lehmann had no involvement in its production, the suit states. And in June 2023, Lehmann claimed to have heard his voice used on a podcast about the dangers of AI technology.
Similarly, in 2019, Sage was offered a job on Fiverr to create “test scripts for radio ads,” but was told the work “would not be published publicly,” according to the complaint. She was paid her $400.
Sage said she then discovered her voice through YouTube videos. It was a recorded investor presentation demonstrating Lovo's technology.
Lehman and Sage claim that the people who contacted them on Fiverr were Lovo employees who lied about what they were using the audio samples for and later sold AI versions of their voices to raise money. are doing.
“To be clear, the products you purchase from LOVO are stolen goods. They are audio stolen by LOVO and sold by LOVO under false pretenses,” the complaint states.
The actors are seeking more than $5 million in damages and a court order preventing Robo from continuing to use his voice.
