The 2023 WGA Writers Strike already brought to a head the threat of AI when screenwriters were threatened to be replaced with AI-produced scripts. With the possibility of artificial intelligence having a hand in greenlighting movies as well as the use of AI imagery seen in films and for promotion, voice actors are now reporting the use of their voices for brands they didn’t get a say in. Some voice actors are not taking this sitting down as they file a lawsuit over AI likeness.
Artificial intelligence has been making its way toward Hollywood more than ever before. However, fans have not welcomed its prevalent use such as when some people boycotted the horror film Late Night with the Devil after AI images were used and the internet didn’t hold back their reactions to Civil War doing the same thing with their posters.
Now, voice actors have filed a lawsuit against their voices being used in ways they didn’t consent to and without compensation by the AI startup company LOVO. According to THR, here is what the actors’ lawyer, Steve Cohen of Pollock Cohen, wrote in his complaint:
The voices of other LOVO voice options are undoubtedly the voices of other class Plaintiffs who neither gave their authorization to use their voice – for either teaching Genny, use by LOVO, or sale by LOVO as part of its service – and were never properly compensated.
This all started back in 2020 when voiceover actor Paul Skye Lehrman, known for his work in NBC’s New Amsterdam and CBS’s Blue Bloods, was contacted by a LOVO employee through the freelance service Fiverr to provide voiceover work. The complaint said he was allegedly told his voice would be used for “academic research purposes only.” Paid only $1,200, Lehrman was also told in another message his voice “will not be used for anything else.”
The complaint continued to say that in 2022, Paul Skye Lehrman was at a friend’s house when he first heard his voice in a YouTube video from the channel Military News. In the video, he recalled the use of his voice talking about the Russia-Ukraine conflict as well as Russian weapons even though he personally didn’t say any of those things.
A year later, Lehrman was on his way to a doctor’s appointment when he heard his voice again in a podcast called “Deadline Strike Talk,” He alleges a text-to-speech tool used his voice to answer questions about the dangers of AI technology related to Hollywood’s dual strikes. It was at that moment that he and his wife Linnea Sage, who is also a voiceover artist dealing with the same problem, contacted an attorney to file a lawsuit against LOVO who allegedly marketed their voices under the stage names “Kyle Snow” and “Sally Coleman.”
The proposed class action lawsuit filed in New York federal court accused LOVO of misappropriating the voices of not only Lehrman and Sage, but of A-list celebrities like Ariana Grande, Scarlett Johansson, and Conan O’Brien. With this lawsuit believed to be the first one to sue a company for the use of AI likeness, the goal is to represent other voiceover artists who dealt with the unauthorized and uncompensated use of their voice being robbed to boost a multibillion-dollar industry.
With LOVO allegedly using Paul Skye Lehrman’s voice for brands he didn’t consent with, he said it’s presenting him with fewer job opportunities and “degradation of my reputation.” Linnea Sage is worried about the threat of being replaced by AI tools altogether if the misappropriation of her voice continues.
SAG-AFTRA general counsel Jeffrey Bennett said voice actors filing a lawsuit over AI likeness will be the type of thing we’ll see more often if the rights to a person’s voice aren’t recognized. The class action lawsuit presents a challenge in that there are currently no federal laws related to the use of AI mimicking someone else’s voice. But Bennett says that the creation of intellectual property rights linked to a person’s voice and likeness could empower people to address online unauthorized use with a fair request for removal. With this New York lawsuit in place, we’ll see what's to come from it and if this could change the game of AI use.
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