AI Being Used To Harass Voice Actors And Rob Them Of Work?
Voice actors critical of AI are being harassed by people using the technology to imitate their voices with racial epithets and mockery.
AI is becoming more and more prevalent in a multitude of industries, and it’s also easily accessible to the average consumer. While there are certainly plus sides to this, there are a lot of downsides to consider as well. A recent example is Gizmodo AU’s report on AI being used to maliciously attack voice actors who are critical of the technology, using the actors’ own voices.
Voice actors Zane Schacht and Tom Schalk talked to Gizmodo about their experiences being harassed online when they were sent videos with AI-generated voices that mentioned their real addresses and utilized racial slurs. The actors who are primarily being targeted by harassment campaigns are ones who oppose certain uses of artificial intelligence technology. While many of the videos and accounts have been taken down, it seems like this could definitely be an ongoing problem.
According to the Gizmodo AU report, some of the posts have been linked to an AI company called ElevenLabs, which provides Voice Lab software, used to replicate voices. After various reports of audio deep fakes and harassment reports from various voice actors, ElevenLabs promised to make Voice Lab only available to paid users and increase their user authentication measures. ElevenLabs also issued an apology to some of the victims.
While there are undoubtedly good use cases for AI, the technology has also posed numerous troubling issues for various industries. Voice actors are among the many workers that are worried about the implications of artificial intelligence and how it could cause issues for them. With it being exceptionally easy to access software that can replicate their voices, it is a worrying prospect, to say the least.
As AI has progressed, its deep fake capabilities have exponentially improved. The audio and visual deep fakes can be incredibly convincing, allowing people to make fake videos using the voices of voice actors and other prominent public figures. Undoubtedly, the law will have to evolve along with the technology to prevent fraudulent use.
Right now, there aren’t a ton of AI-specific laws in place. There are no clear laws in place that would specifically protect voice actors from having their voices synthesized for use. While some states have deep fake laws in place to crack down on deep fake porn and political ads, that is pretty much the extent of the laws in place at this point.
Voice actor Mike Pollack, who spoke to Gizmodo in the report, talked about how important it is for voice actors to get rights to their vocal likeness. Pollack is best known for voicing Doctor Eggman from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and is a member of a trade group called Vocal Variants that works to create better contracts for these actors and fight against AI-generated copies of their voices. It seems likely that there will be some laws in place regarding issues like these in the future, but for now, it seems like something that will be a thorn in the side of many people in the voice-acting industry.
