ElevenLabs, whose technology generates voice content for use in audiobooks and voice-overs, was found by the Danish Rights Alliance to have the voice of David Bateson, the character Agent 47 in the popular online game series ‘Hitman,’ in its library without having the rights.
In turn, about 7,500 users had used the voice to generate voice clones. Mr Bateson also works as an actor in Danish television series, and his voice is well recognized. No wrong-doing by ElevenLabs was implied, nor did Rights Alliance make any mention of legal or law enforcement action in its announcement.
ElevenLabs’ services include voice cloning, text-to-speech, dubbing and voice-changing; using generative AI. Software developers can access pre-stored voice samples from a library, or use their own; and invoke them using an ElevenLabs API.
Even though the voice clones were reported and removed from ElevenLabs’ ‘public library’, without further intervention they could remain in users’ private libraries for up to two years after the takedown, which means that the content could still be available to users who have already used the illegal voice clones. In this case, Rights Alliance ensured that Mr. Bateson’s voice was removed from private libraries as well.
Not the only clones
Voice is the most important working tool for many rights holders, and it is therefore essential to effectively deal with abuse. Rights Alliance has made it a priority to ensure that personality rights (the individual’s right to their own voice, their own image, etc.) are acknowledged within government regulations for artificial intelligence.
In this case, the Rights Alliance reported illegal voice clones for removal, such as those by David Bateson at ElevenLabs, and are working to ensure more effective enforcement in this area. The same also applies to misuse of faces and other characteristics, for example via deepfake technology.
Further reading
Rights Alliance removes illegal voice clone used by 7,500 people. Press release (in Danish). November 29, 2024. RettighedsAllianced (Rights Alliance, Denmark)
Why it matters
It is a growing problem that rights-holders are being infringed by voice clones, said Rights Alliance in a prepared statement. This instance happened to be with a voice generator company using illegal voice clones, but the problem is rampant. Rights Alliance reported and removed the voice clones from the service, but Rights Alliance said that this instance is only the tip of the iceberg.
