2024-08-07 00:42:21
Everything from your smart speaker to your favorite chatbot might sound very familiar in the days to come. According to reports, Meta is reaching out to celebrities to lend their voices to future AI projects.
Shared by our sister site Tech Radar, the social media giant is offering millions of dollars to various celebrities in exchange for rights to use their voices to train voice AI clones. Some of the names mentioned include Awkwafina, Judi Dench, and Keegan-Michael Key.
The voices are intended to be used in MetaAI’s digital assistant product, the New York Times reports. Allegedly, Meta is in talks with many of the major talent agencies in Hollywood.
As of this writing, it is unclear how many famous individuals are being considered for the project or who might actually sign up. Sources told the Times that Meta could pay millions in fees to any actors who agree.
This may be a hard sell, as the Screen Actors Guild just launched a strike last year against Hollywood studios over a number of issues, including protections against AI work or AI-generated characters. However, there are reports from unnamed sources that SAG-AFTRA has reached an agreement with Meta on terms.
A Bloomberg report claimed that Meta is looking to lock in celebrity voices before the company’s Connect 2024 event in September, mainly so the company has time to develop AI tools using the voices in time for the event.
What the company intends to do with the voice rights is unclear at this stage.
Last year, Meta unveiled a collection of AI characters based on celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, and Paris Hilton who lent their faces to AI characters—Snoop Dogg as a DND Dungeon Master or soccer star Sam Kerr as a relaxing and free-spirited friend. These chatbots were text-only and have since removed the faces of the celebrities.
AI voices and actors are not without controversy. Earlier this year, OpenAI revealed GPT-4o with a voice option that sounded suspiciously like Scarlett Johansson’s. That voice was removed after Johansson moved to take legal action against the AI company.
And as of this writing, SAG-AFTRA is striking specifically against video game companies amid disputes over worker protections related to AI. The union is seeking protections for both voice actors and motion capture performers.