Class Action Lawsuit Claims LOVO Stole, ‘Cloned’ Voice Actors’ Voices for AI Software

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LOVO faces a proposed class action lawsuit wherein two voice actors allege the artificial intelligence (AI) speech software platform illegally “cloned” and marketed their voices without permission or proper compensation.

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According to the 37-page AI lawsuit, LOVO allows subscribers to create and edit voice-over narrations adapted from real actors’ voices by simply uploading a script to its AI-driven text-to-speech generator known as “Genny.” Per the suit, the platform lets users filter for voices based on gender, accent and age, and apparently boasts up to 600 voice options.

The case says that although LOVO purports on its website to have agreements with actors that allow it to use their voices, and claims to compensate them accordingly, the plaintiffs allege that the platform has unlawfully stolen and used their voices—and those of other actors and celebrities—to create “millions” of unauthorized voice-overs without paying any compensation.

“To be clear, the product that customers purchase from LOVO is stolen property,” the complaint stresses. “They are voices stolen by LOVO and marketed by LOVO under false pretenses: LOVO represents that it has the legal right to market these voices, but it does not.”

As the filing tells it, one plaintiff, a New York resident, learned in August 2023 that a voice-over recording he had provided to an unknown client years prior had, in fact, been commissioned by LOVO. At the time, the client—a LOVO employee—had represented that the recording would be used for “academic research purposes only” in the course of their study of “speech synthesis,” the lawsuit shares.

After providing the voice-over recording to what the plaintiff later learned was LOVO, the actor discovered in April 2022 that a YouTube channel formerly known as iNTECH was posting videos that used his AI-generated voice, the suit relays. According to the case, the channel had used the LOVO platform to generate its voice-over narrations without the plaintiff’s participation or authorization.

The complaint asserts that in June 2023, the plaintiff again learned his voice was being used without his knowledge, this time on an episode of the “Deadline Strike Talk” podcast. The voice-overs used in the podcast were allegedly created by LOVO software, the filing says, adding that the actor apparently never authorized or received compensation for the use of his voice.

In addition, the plaintiff claims that LOVO, without his permission, used his voice to promote its Genny service and even made it the software’s “default voice” for a period of years.

The actor contends that LOVO also marketed his allegedly misappropriated voice as part of its subscription service under the stage name “Kyle Snow,” a fake character created as a voice option for LOVO users.

“LOVO stole [the plaintiff’s] voice—his protected property—and marketed and sold it as if it were its own,” the case charges. “[The plaintiff] was never compensated for that use.”

The AI lawsuit looks to represent anyone whose voice was used by LOVO without permission or proper compensation for the purpose of creating or refining its AI text-to-speech generator; whose AI-replicated voice was used, licensed or sold without authorization or appropriate compensation, or whose name or stage name was used by LOVO to market its services without authorization or proper compensation.

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