Voice Actors ‘Shocked’ to Find AI Copying Their Speech, Tone

Remie Michelle Clarke is the voice of Microsoft Bing in Ireland. When an old friend and fellow actor called and asked if a different voice gig had paid Clarke well, she was confused and began to investigate.

What she found was a text-to-speech website that employed her voice as a generic Irish woman. Customers could pay to make Clarke’s voice say anything they liked – for advertisements, trainings, YouTube audio or voice messages on a phone.

“I was completely shocked,” she said.

Artificial intelligence has made it easier to replicate someone’s voice, with an array of tools making it possible to ...