Actors Ask for a New Law on AI Voices
More than 80 performers want everyone in the UK to own their voice by law.
Computers can copy a person's voice. This is called a voice clone.
More than 80 performers signed a letter about this.
Matt Lucas and Hugh Bonneville signed it.
They ask Prime Minister Andy Burnham for a new law.
The law will give every person in the UK the right to own their voice.
The government says it will ask people for their ideas first.
Some people like the new technology. It helps people who cannot speak.
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Matt Lucas and Hugh Bonneville Want a UK Law on AI Voice Cloning
More than 80 performers have signed a letter asking the prime minister for a legal right to own your voice.
More than 80 performers have signed a letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham. They want a new law that gives every person in the UK a legal right to own their voice. Matt Lucas and Hugh Bonneville are among them.
Voice clones are made when AI learns from recordings of real people. A quick clone can be made in minutes from a few seconds of audio, but a very good copy usually needs hours of recordings.
Audiobook narrator Alice Sockett helped to start the campaign. She said her voice is public but "completely unprotected", and that voice theft is increasing every week.
A government spokesperson said digital copies can be a powerful tool, but they can also cause harm. The government has announced a consultation about the problem.
Some people have welcomed the technology. Yvonne Johnson lost her voice because of motor neurone disease. After AI cloned her voice, she felt closer to her family, who had forgotten how she sounded.
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More Than 80 UK Performers Call for Law on AI Voice Cloning
Actors, narrators and singers have written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham asking for a legal right to own your own voice.
More than 80 performers, including Matt Lucas, Hugh Bonneville and Derry Girls actor Siobhán McSweeney, have signed a letter asking Prime Minister Andy Burnham to introduce legislation giving every person in the UK a legal right to own their voice.
Voice clones are created by training AI on recordings of real people. Quick versions can be made in minutes from a few seconds of audio, while high-quality copies usually require hours of material.
Audiobook narrator Alice Sockett, who co-founded the campaign, described voice cloning as "an existential threat to our entire industry". She said her voice was in the public domain but "completely unprotected", and that voice theft was increasing every week. McSweeney said she was "deeply worried" that the government was lagging behind, adding: "There is a way to work alongside AI and to use it as a tool that benefits us rather than rendering us obsolete." Scottish singer Sandi Thom, known for her 2006 hit I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair), said her voice was "unique to me and was handed to me at birth".
A government spokesperson told the BBC that digital replicas could be "a powerful tool, including for the creative industries", but that there was also a possibility of harm. A consultation on how to address these harms, while protecting legitimate innovation, will be launched.
The letter follows warnings from lawyers in June that UK legislation had become "unfit for purpose". However, the technology has also been welcomed by some. Yvonne Johnson, who lost her voice because of motor neurone disease, told the BBC's Tech Life programme in February that having her voice cloned had "totally blown her mind" and brought her closer to her family.
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