David Greene, the longtime host of NPR’s Morning Edition, is suing Google, claiming that the male voice on the company’s NotebookLM podcast is based on Greene, according to the Washington Post.
After she started texting friends, family and colleagues saying they looked alike, Green said she became convinced that their voices replicated her rhythm, intonation and use of filler words like “uh.”
“My voice is like the most important part of who I am,” said Green, who currently hosts KCRW’s “Left, Right, & Center.”
Among other features, Google’s NotebookLM allows users to generate podcasts using an AI host. A company spokesperson told the Post that the voices used in the product are unrelated to Greene, saying, “The sound of the male voice in NotebookLM’s audio overview is based on a paid professional actor hired by Google.”
This is not the first controversy surrounding AI voices resembling real humans. One notable example is OpenAI’s removal of ChatGPT audio after actress Scarlett Johansson complained that it imitated her own voice.
