Actors Say AI Voice-Over Generator ElevenLabs Cloned Likenesses

Generative AI company ElevenLabs Inc. misappropriated the voices of two voice actors to make its text-to-speech software, a federal lawsuit said.

Actors Karissa Vacker and Mark Boyett accused ElevenLabs of creating an AI voice-over generator that mimics their “distinctive vocal timbres, accents, intonation, pacing, vocal mannerisms, and speaking styles” to create “a synthetic professional narration that friends and family recognize as their voices,” according to the complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Delaware.

The plaintiffs also include authors Brian Larson and Vaughn Heppner—whose copyrighted books Boyett has narrated—and their publisher Iron Tower Press Inc. ...