Advances in artificial intelligence have allowed software to recreate voices with eerie precision. The technology puts voice actors, often-nameless professionals, in a precarious position.
Companies clamor to use Remie Michelle Clarke’s voice. An award-winning vocal artist, her smooth, Irish accent backs ads for Mazda and Mastercard and is the sound of Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, in Ireland.
But in January, her sound engineer told Michelle Clarke he’d found a voice that sounded uncannily like hers someplace unexpected: on Revoicer.com, credited to a woman named “Olivia.” For a modest monthly fee, Revoicer customers can access hundreds of different voices and, through an artificial intelligence-backed tool, morph them to say anything — to voice commercials, recite corporate trainings or narrate books.
Well that’s another “profession” surrendering to AI. There will be “voice appropriation” lawsuits for awhile but the damage is done short of a ban.
