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A lawsuit in New York federal court alleges that Berkeley-based startup LOVO unlawfully used actors’ voices to develop its AI voice technology, implicating prominent figures like Scarlett Johansson, Ariana Grande, and Conan O’Brien.
Voiceover artist Paul Skye Lehrman recounts discovering his voice narrating a YouTube video about Russia’s advance into Ukraine in 2022, despite never authorizing its use. “It was my voice dictating the conflict and talking about weapons,” Lehrman stated. “These are words I never said.”
Lehrman’s concerns resurfaced a year later when he heard his voice in a podcast discussing Hollywood’s dual strikes, generated by an AI text-to-speech tool. This prompted Lehrman and his wife, fellow voiceover actor Linnea Sage, who also suspects her voice was misappropriated, to seek legal counsel.
