Voice actors around the world are mobilizing against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create and clone human voices, which they fear threatens their livelihoods.

“We’re fighting a huge monster,” said Mario Filo, a Mexican artist who has painted Hollywood star Will Smith, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s character in Star Wars and party-loving lemur King Julian in the animated film. Voice overs have been done. Madagascar.”

Campaigning under the slogan “Don’t Steal Our Voices”, more than 20 voice acting guilds, associations and unions from Europe, America and Latin America have formed the United Voice Artists Alliance.

It represents the faceless voice-over artists and narrators of advertisements, films, audiobooks and video games who fear that their voices will be replaced by machines, or cloned by artificial intelligence without their consent. .

“The indiscriminate and unregulated use of artificial intelligence is a threat that could lead to the extinction of the artistic heritage of creativity and wonder, an asset that machines cannot produce,” according to the group, which says Its members include the US National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA) and the Latin American organization United Voices.

“Our voices are our livelihood,” NAVA Vice President Karen Gilfrey said in a statement last month.

“And if we don’t have control over how we use those voices, we can’t make a living,” he added.

Voice artists were already competing with text-to-speech technology that converts written words into synthetic voices.

Now artificial intelligence has brought a new threat.

Thanks to machine learning, the software can compare a single sound sample to millions of existing samples, identifying patterns that create clones.

“It’s open to the sounds we’ve been providing for years,” said Desiree Hernandez, president of the Mexican Association of Commercial Announcers.

“We’re talking about the right to use your voice without your consent,” he added.

‘Own or Missing’

Platforms offer human voice text-to-speech services that professionals will receive.

One, revoicer.com, says it’s not intended to replace human voiceover, but to offer a faster and cheaper alternative.

Although they continue to be hired, voice actors suspect that companies are using their voices to build their archives.

Artists are finding tools to track their sounds while facing sophisticated piracy.

Colombian voice artist Daniel Solar de la Perda said he wants the law to stop recordings of his voice being used to develop AI without his consent, and for human voice-overs. Also supports setting quotas.

Filio said that in the future, audiences can hear the voice of a famous actor in multiple languages ​​but with the voice of a dubbing artist.

While this could create employment and benefits for the public, voice artists “need to charge what is fair,” he added.

Mexican voice artist Meclovia Gonzalez said she would only sign a contract with an AI company if it provided enough information about how the content would be used.

“I want to be a part of this revolution, but not at any cost,” she said.

Art Dubbing, a company that has received numerous requests from clients to use synthetic voices, faces a dilemma: “Get it or disappear,” said its Mexican founder, Anver López de la Peña. “.

Filio, for his part, said he has stopped recording many clients for fear of harming his colleagues’ livelihoods.

But he doubts artificial intelligence will replace voice actors because machines “don’t have a soul”.