This AI Company Stole My Voice (allegedly)
In a Nutshell
A YouTuber discovered his unique northeast England voice was cloned by Eleven Labs and sold commercially without consent, allowing anyone to make him promote products he opposes. The company denied the cloning after running their own voice similarity test that returned a 0.28 score, despite the creator and others clearly recognizing the voice. He argues that voices lack legal protection like other personal property, leaving people vulnerable to identity theft, deepfakes, and commercial exploitation with no effective recourse.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
The creator believes that Eleven Labs has cloned his voice for their AI service. He discovered a YouTube video about the disappearance of flight MH370 that featured a narrator whose voice was virtually identical to his own. The narrator had specific speech patterns that matched his own, including unusual pronunciations of words like "yours," "purple," "work," and "June" - all characteristic of his northeast England accent from Middlesbrough or Stockton-on-Tees.
The narrator's voice contained specific regional speech patterns that are unique to someone from northeast England. The creator notes that there aren't many people from Middlesbrough or Stockton-on-Tees who speak online about topics, making it unlikely that this particular accent style was chosen by coincidence. He questions why Eleven Labs would specifically adopt this regional British accent style if it wasn't based on someone from that area.
The creator discovered that his voice was one of the most popular British male voices on Eleven Labs, the first AI voice platform. For just a few dollars, anyone can use his voice to make him say anything, sell anything, or endorse anything. He found an example where his cloned voice was promoting a fictional product called "Loco" drink, which he would never actually promote.
The creator makes his living from his voice and has invested years of vocal training to develop his speaking style. He emphasizes that his voice is his primary job and that he has put significant time and effort into speaking the way he does. He argues that just as stealing a song melody or musical artist's style is considered wrong, taking someone's voice should be equally concerning.
The creator describes voice as one of the most private possessions, equivalent to a fingerprint on vocal cords. He explains that voice is one of the few things no one has ever been able to take away, serving as the means by which people express their identity, thoughts, and beliefs. Voice is how trust is built between individuals.
The creator notes that AI is inherently inauthentic - something that is not human pretending to be human. When people repeatedly hear AI versions of someone, they begin to distrust the real person even when they haven't done anything wrong. He references the Drake AI song that was removed because it wasn't Drake's right to have his voice used in that way.
When contacted about the voice cloning, Eleven Labs responded that they had spoken with their legal team and were investigating. They claimed to have conducted a technical similarity test using the "ENCAPA-TDNN" test between the voice of "Archer" (their AI voice) and the creator's voice. The test returned a score of 0.28, indicating the voices were completely different, despite the creator and his friends clearly recognizing the voice as his own.
The creator contacted Eleven Labs about the issue but received a response suggesting his voice wasn't cloned. He notes the difficulty in proving voice ownership, especially when the company that allegedly cloned his voice controls the verification process. He mentions that Archer's voice has since been removed from Eleven Labs, though the reason remains unclear.
There are numerous pending lawsuits against AI platforms by people claiming their voices have been stolen, though none had gone to trial at the time of this video. Historical precedents include the 1988 case where Bette Midler sued Ford Motor Company for hiring her backup singer to perform her song in a commercial, with the court ruling it illegal to imitate someone's voice to sell a product. Tom Waits also sued Frito-Lay for impersonating him in a commercial and received $2.4 million.
Legal consultation revealed that almost every state has "right of publicity" laws that allow individuals to claim someone illegally took their voice for commercial gain. However, there is currently no federal law protecting voice rights. The legal test often considers what a reasonable person might think when hearing the AI voice - whether they would believe the real person is endorsing or connected to the content.
The legal advice recommends documenting all evidence, including messages from people who recognize the voice as the creator's, proof of commercial use, and marketing materials. The creator notes that while he has a platform, audience, and legal team, he still cannot definitively prove his voice belongs to him, highlighting the broader systemic issue affecting everyone using the internet.
The creator emphasizes that voice has no regulatory protection like other personal property. While there are systems to report stolen cars, copyright claims for songs, or bank protection for forged signatures, voice theft only has tech support emails and unverifiable tests. This same system is supposed to protect people when their faces appear in deepfake videos or their family members' voices are used in scams.
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