Legendary broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough has expressed deep concern over unauthorized AI cloning of his distinctive voice, following a BBC News segment that revealed nearly indistinguishable AI-generated replicas of his narration.
The 98-year-old broadcaster discovered his voice was being used without permission when BBC News demonstrated a comparison between his authentic narration from his latest series "Asia" and an AI-generated clone found online. The artificial version matched Attenborough's famous voice with remarkable accuracy.
"Having spent a lifetime trying to speak what I believe to be the truth, I am profoundly disturbed to find that these days, my identity is being stolen by others and greatly object to them using it to say whatever they wish," Attenborough stated in response to the BBC's findings.
The AI-generated versions of Attenborough's voice have appeared on various YouTube channels, narrating content about political topics like the Ukraine-Russia war and Donald Trump - subjects far removed from his natural history expertise.
In an unusual twist, the AI voice creator responded to Attenborough's concerns using the cloned voice itself: "Let's set the record straight... I am not David Attenborough. We are both male British voices for sure, but I am not David Attenborough for anyone out there who might be confused."
Dr. Jennifer Williams, an AI audio researcher at the University of Southampton, expressed strong concerns about the implications. "When you have a trusted voice like Sir David Attenborough, who all around the world people recognize as an authority, as a voice of truth... to have words put in his mouth about war, politics and things that he has never said or may not even endorse, it's very concerning."
This incident adds to growing concerns about AI voice cloning in entertainment. Recently, Scarlett Johansson challenged OpenAI over unauthorized voice replication, and thousands of creative industry professionals have signed an open letter opposing unlicensed use of creative works for AI training.
In the United States, legislators have introduced the No Fakes Act to address such unauthorized AI replications, while the recent Hollywood strikes highlighted AI usage as a major point of contention in the entertainment industry.