Journalists sue tech giants over 'stolen' voices for AI training
A group of journalists and voice actors are suing major tech companies for allegedly using their voices without consent to train AI models.Summary
A coalition of journalists, podcasters, and voice actors has filed nine class-action lawsuits against major technology companies, including Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta, accusing them of using their voices without permission to train artificial intelligence models. The legal action, filed in Chicago federal court, argues that the companies violated Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by ingesting voice recordings to create foundational voice models. The plaintiffs, such as retired NBC 5 journalists Carol Marin and Phil Rogers, contend that their voiceprints, which are unique digital representations of their speech patterns and physiology, were taken without consent. The lawsuits claim that "none of them was told that their voice was being used to train Amazon's commercial voice AI" and that the companies built a billion-dollar industry on stolen voices. This case marks a new frontier for BIPA litigation, which has previously focused on fingerprints and facial recognition, as voiceprint technology becomes increasingly prevalent.
(Source：Bangor Daily News)