Stopping others from stealing your voice

• Published date: 30 October 2023
• Publication title: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)

VOICE actor Armando Plata does not recall promoting a shopping mall in Bogota, narrating a porn movie or advertising a big bank. Yet his voice comes over loud and clear: schmoozing and selling with neither permission nor payment

It was the mild, robotic twang — rather than worry over any memory lapse — that alerted Plata to the fact his voice had been quietly cloned via artificial intelligence, robbing the veteran actor of his key asset, artistic choice and vocal rights.

‘‘I believe that the most cloned and artificially used voice in Spanish is mine,’’ said Plata, owner of a deep and lilting voice, 50-year audio career and president of the Colombian Association of Voice Actors.

Now Plata is organising with voice actors across Latin America to legislate the ‘‘right to own one’s voice’’.

And the group is not alone in what is emerging as a global push for human rights against the precipitous rise of AI.

From South Africa to Europe, Japan to the United States, artists are joining forces to protect their jobs, and their souls, from the ramifications of AI that sounds just like them.

The genesis of the voice grab seemed innocent enough.

It was two decades ago that Plata took part in a paid, text-to-speech project for a firm that later — unbeknownst to him — sold its recorded voices to an AI software company.

Plata’s voice proved popular, if of no commercial value — to him at least. As is common in the voiceover business, Plata signed no contract so could not then press any lawsuits.

‘‘At one point we will be able to sue companies and push for class actions. But first, we need governments to recognise the ownership of our voices,’’ the voice actor said.

Human right to a voice

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