UK performers call for stronger protection against AI voice cloning

The performers, including actor Hugh Bonneville, Derry Girls actress Siobhán McSweeney and singer Sandi Thom, have written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging the government to introduce legislation covering voice cloning and the use of recordings for AI training without consent.

The campaign was co-founded by audiobook narrator Alice Sockett, who described voice cloning as “an existential threat to our entire industry”.

“My voice is out there in the public domain but completely unprotected,” Sockett said. “We’re seeing voice theft increase every week.”

McSweeney said she was concerned that legislation was not keeping pace with developments in AI technology.

“There is a way to work alongside AI and to use it as a tool that benefits us rather than rendering us obsolete. Our audiences want that human connection, not AI.”

Thom, who is best known for the 2006 song “I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair)”, said she supported the campaign because of the personal connection between performers and their voices.

“My voice is unique to me and was handed to me at birth. Behind that voice is the emotion, the life, the pain, the tears and joy that I’ve felt along the way. Without creativity, we are nothing.”

The UK government said digital replicas could have legitimate uses, including in the creative industries, but acknowledged that the technology could also cause harm.

A government spokesperson told the BBC: “Digital replicas can be a powerful tool, including for the creative industries,” adding that the government planned to consult on measures to address potential harms while protecting legitimate innovation.

The government has announced plans for a consultation on AI and intellectual property as it considers how existing protections should apply to emerging technologies.

Legal experts have previously raised concerns about whether current UK law provides sufficient protection for individuals whose voices, faces or identities are reproduced using AI.

Voice cloning also has legitimate applications, including helping people who have lost the ability to speak because of illness. However, the growing use of the technology has increased calls for clearer rules governing consent, ownership and commercial exploitation of digitally reproduced voices.

The campaign comes amid wider debates in the UK and elsewhere over copyright, performers’ rights and the use of creative works and recordings in the development of generative AI systems.