As reported by The Washington Post, David Greene, a veteran presenter of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” has initiated legal action against Google, asserting that the masculine podcast narration within the company’s NotebookLM tool is derived from his voice.
Greene expressed that his certainty grew after acquaintances, relatives, and professional colleagues started contacting him via email regarding the similarity; he was persuaded that the audio was mimicking his vocal rhythm, pitch, and even his deployment of interjections such as “uh.”
Greene, who presently helms the KCRW program “Left, Right, & Center,” remarked, “My voice is, like, the most important part of my identity.”
Among its capabilities, Google’s NotebookLM enables individuals to produce podcasts featuring artificial intelligence presenters. A corporate representative informed the Post that the audio employed in this offering bears no connection to Greene’s: “The timbre of the male vocalization in NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews is sourced from a compensated expert performer engaged by Google.”
This marks not the inaugural contention concerning artificial intelligence vocalizations mimicking actual individuals. A prominent instance involved OpenAI withdrawing a ChatGPT voice option subsequent to actress Scarlett Johansson’s complaint that it constituted a mimicry of her personal voice.
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