Two Voice Actors Sue AI Lovo Company For Their Illegal Use Of Their Votes

Paul Total Lehrman (right) and Linnea Sage, filed a class action lawsuit against AI Lovo (photo: dock. nytimes)

JAKARFTA - On Thursday, May 16, two voice actors sued artificial intelligence startup (AI) Lovo in Manhattan federal court. Both accused the company of illegally copying their voices and using them without permission in its AI voice technology.

Paul Total Lehrman and Linnea Sage, in a class action lawsuit filed, said that the San Francisco-based Lovo sold the AI version of their voices without permission after tricking them into providing a vote sample.

The actors, seeking compensation for at least $5 million for their demands, accused Lovo of committing fraud, false advertising, and violating their publicity rights. The case is the latest in a wave of high-value lawsuits accusing tech companies of abusing content including books, news articles, and song lyrics to drive a generative AI system.

"We want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else," said attorney Steve Cohen of Pollock Cohen, who represented the plaintiffs. "We don't know, of the thousands of votes Lovo said they used, how many people know their voices are being used and may still be used."

Lovo representatives have not immediately responded to a request for comment. Lehrman and Sage were approached at the freelancer Fiverr market to provide voice-filling work for anonymous clients, according to the lawsuit. Lehrman was told that his voice would only be used for "the research project," while Sage was told that his voice would only be used with "trial scripts for radio ads," the lawsuit said.

However, Lehrman then heard an AI version of his voice in a YouTube video about Russian military equipment and in a podcast episode about "the dangers of AI technology," according to the lawsuit. Misapel's voice was used to provide voicers for Lovo promotional material, he added.

Lehrman later found out that his Fiverr client was a Lovo employee, the lawsuit said. The actors said that they later found out that Lovo was selling Lehrman's voice use to customers under the name "Kyle Snow" and Sage's voice as "Sally Coleman." According to the complaint, the company responded to a letter of dismissal and termination by saying that the voices of the actors were "unpopular" and that the sale was "significant."

The actors filed a lawsuit on behalf of a class of people whose voices were also accused of being misused by Lovo. Complaints say that the Lovo website also offers celebrity-like voices with names like "Barack Yo Mama," "Mark Zuckerpunch," and "Cocoon O'Brien."