A voice over artist found out his voice had been taken when he heard a chatbot on a podcast using it.

In June 2023, Paul Skye Lehrman and his partner Linnea Sage were driving near their home in New York City, listening to a podcast about the ongoing strikes in Hollywood and how artificial intelligence (AI) could affect the industry.

The episode was of interest because the couple are voice-over performers and - like many other creatives - fear that human-sounding voice generators could soon be used to replace them.

This particular podcast had a unique hook – they interviewed an AI-powered chat bot, equipped with text-to-speech software, to ask how it thought the use of AI would affect jobs in Hollywood.

But, when it spoke, it sounded just like Mr Lehrman.

That night they spent hours online, searching for clues until they came across the site of text-to-speech platform Lovo. Once there, Ms Sage said she found a copy of her voice as well.

They have now filed a lawsuit against Lovo. The firm has not yet responded to that or the BBC’s requests for comment.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    583·
    3 months ago

    I did VO work for years. I’m out of the industry now, but I’m pretty certain that there’s no real point in getting back into it because most VO actors will be replaced soon. The voice that they gave ChatGPT with simulated emotional inflections has convinced me of that.

    I would probably be a little more protected because I specialized in characters, accents and impersonations, but really, for the most part, if you aren’t already famous as an actor, you probably won’t be getting much VO work in the near future.

    • Boxscape@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      281·
      3 months ago

      but really, for the most part, if you aren’t already famous as an actor, you probably won’t be getting much VO work in the near future.

      Time to start a Dungeons & Dragons podcast!

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        171·
        3 months ago

        Might have worked out for him, but I think people on Lemmy are tired enough hearing from me as it is. I’d hate to inflict myself on the general public like that.

        • brvslvrnst@lemmy.mlEnglish
          221·
          3 months ago

          I, for one, enjoy seeing a familiar squid, even if we’ve disagreed once or twice ❤️

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
            151·
            3 months ago

            Thanks. Much love back. I was mostly being facetious. I have considered doing a podcast before but I honestly have no idea what I would do a podcast about or what people would want to hear from me. I also don’t really want to do it alone, but don’t have anyone to do it with.

            Maybe one day…

            • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.netEnglish
              6·
              3 months ago

              Have you ever listened to the podcast “ologies”? It’s a woman who interviews people who are -ologists (proctologist, ornithologist, geologist, etc., as well as some non-ologist specialties that nonetheless fit the theme)

              Maybe something like that would work for you :) then you aren’t stuck with a single topic, you don’t have to do it alone, and you don’t have to find one person to commit to it, it could be several. Just come up with good questions and have a semi-formal chat. It’s a very enjoyable model for learning new things you didn’t know you wanted to know about.

              https://www.alieward.com/ologies

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
                2·
                3 months ago

                Thanks. It sounds fun, but it’s not really in my skillset. My skills would involve character voices and accents along with my comedy writing and improv abilities. So it would be some sort of comedy podcast. But honestly, I have been out of creative ideas for a long time.

                • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.netEnglish
                  2·
                  3 months ago

                  That’s totally fair; I’m also not really capable of doing something like that consistently (even tho I would absolutely love talking to smart people - my degree is science communication, so talking to smart people to learn about things and pass them along is easily my favorite thing), so I get it.

                  That kinda makes me wonder if interviewing comedians would be funny… I’ve never really talked to any in person for the full impact, but some of them have that timing and wit that means any conversation can be funny. I certainly thought morning radio shows where they have guest comedians on sucked big time, but those are meant more for mass appeal, and they probably work for a lot of people or they wouldn’t have them on.

                  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
                    1·
                    3 months ago

                    Unfortunately, there are so many shows that do that already, ones already done by well-known comedians. I wouldn’t even be able to get their guests.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
            10·
            3 months ago

            I think a lot about the fact that, on anonymous forums like this, any one of us that others have gotten to know over our time here could die and we’d never know. They’d just stop posting one day. I’m sure it’s happened to people I’ve befriended on forums over the year more than once. It makes me sad. I wish there was some good way we could let people we talked to know after the fact. I suppose tell loved ones to create accounts and make a post.

    • thefartographer@lemm.eeEnglish
      9·
      3 months ago

      Oh shit, really?? Any work we’d know?

      I never got any real work as a VO artist, but Lord knows I’ve worshipped those who have had some success.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        13·
        3 months ago

        In one case, in the sense that you would know those characters, yes. In the sense that you would know the work I did with them, much less likely. When I was voicing those characters, it was for flash webstoons for the skeleton of the company that was about to close up shop and just become another arm of its parent company. I don’t even think there’s an online record of most of it. I also had very early success on YouTube long before you could monetize anything, so my voice was heard there.

        I’d say the other really big thing I did that people here might have heard my voice in was a PS2 game… but I don’t really want to dox myself any more than that.