New York
CNN
–
Voice actor Paul Sky Lehrman took a job in 2020 for what he believed to be providing a set of successive voice samples. Years later, he says he heard his voice narrating a YouTube video and then on a podcast — though he never recorded either of them.
Now, Lehrman, along with fellow voice actor Linnea Sage, is suing AI firm Lovo for allegedly commissioning voice projects under false pretenses to create AI-generated versions of their voices and To be sold. The Berkeley, California-based tech company promotes AI-generated voice technology used in marketing, education and product demos.
Lehrman and Sage are suing Lovo and other people “whose voices and/or identities were stolen and used” in class-action status, according to the complaint filed Thursday in New York's Southern District Court. trying to get The complaint was first reported by The New York Times.
The voice actors' lawsuit is the latest in a recent string of lawsuits filed by creators, writers and artists against various tech companies who say their work was used to train AI systems without their permission. Who can finally fight them. Such cases have added to a growing wave of concern about how training AI models, which require vast amounts of data, can violate copyright and intellectual property laws.
“LOVO's offerings to its customers imply that each voiceover actor agrees to LOVO's terms and conditions for customers to access that actor's voice,” the complaint states. It has been said. But for Lehrman and Sage and anyone else “who does not agree to LOVO's terms, the continued unauthorized use of Plaintiffs' voices constitutes theft and misuse of service.”
Lowe did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
In May 2020, Lehrman says he received a request for voice-over narration services from an account named “User25199087” on the gig-work website Fiverr. When he asked what? The voice sample was for her, she was told, to be used “only for academic research purposes” and “the scripts will not be used for anything else,” according to the complaint. He was paid $1,200 for the work, the complaint states.
Two years later, Lehrman came across a YouTube video that sounded like his voice narrating it, even though he was never involved in its creation, the complaint said. Then in June 2023, Lehrman claimed to have heard her voice on a podcast about the dangers of AI technologies.
Similarly, Sage was offered “test scripts for radio commercials” on Fiverr in 2019 that he was told would “not be disclosed externally,” according to the complaint. He was paid $400.
Sage says he later discovered his voice in a YouTube video: a recording of Luvo's investor presentation demonstrating his technology.
Lehrman and Sage allege that the people who contacted them on Fiverr were Lovo employees who misrepresented what their voice samples would be used for and later AI-versions of their voices. Sold or collected on the back of
“To be clear, the products that customers purchase from LOVO are stolen property. They are sounds that LOVO has stolen and marketed by LOVO under false pretenses,” the complaint states.
The actors are seeking more than $5 million in damages, as well as a court order barring Luvo from continuing the alleged use of their voices.