{"id":16371,"date":"2026-11-15T05:24:06","date_gmt":"2026-11-15T05:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=16371"},"modified":"2026-11-15T05:24:06","modified_gmt":"2026-11-15T05:24:06","slug":"ai-stole-my-voice-and-i-want-it-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=16371","title":{"rendered":"AI stole my voice \u2014 and I want it back"},"content":{"rendered":"
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They appeared like mushrooms after a rain. No announcement of their coming. No explanation. Like Stanley Kubrick\u2019s monolith in the desert. No warning that they would promise to give us the world so they could take our jobs \u2014 our soul. Data centers \u2014 the home of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a television journalist, a narrator. That means I transform the written word into audio that matches the visuals. After a 60-year career I can count almost 1,000 such narrations across the broadcasting spectrum with emphasis on news, true crime programs, nature and special events.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 1 of this year, I received an email from a friendly viewer inquiring about a show on cable that she heard, writing, \u201cthe voiceover, I believe (is) artificial intelligence (AI), and it sounds, I mean, I don\u2019t know if Bill Kurtis said that, great it\u2019s awesome, I love him. And yet, I don\u2019t know that that\u2019s true, so I thought it was AI and I would inform him, because I don\u2019t think that\u2019s okay, replicate someone\u2019s voice without their permission.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a single sentence she captured a crisis in the news and entertainment industry that threatens our very existence. I put my reporting to work and found more than 200 voice-over examples using my voice replicated by AI. I was not aware of their existence, was not asked or contacted, hence I gave no consent to those people and companies using my voice or voiceprint. Some of the offenders appeared to be located out of the country.<\/p>\n

A Chicago-based attorney, Ross Kimbarovsky of Loevy & Loevy, has filed 13 proposed class actions against such companies as Google Amazon, Meta, Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, ElevenLabs and others. \u201cWhat we are seeing is an illegal and unethical exploitation of talent on a massive scale, and one of the largest violations of biometric privacy ever committed. They\u2019ve built a billion-dollar industry on stolen voices because they thought no one would make them pay for it,\u201d Kimbarovsky said.<\/p>\n

The use of AI is starting to rise out of its silence as data centers strategically attempt to become operational before the public learns the full reach of the center\u2019s noise pollution, excessive water consumption and power demands.<\/p>\n

Like a giant vacuum cleaner, they\u2019ve been collecting information, better known as knowledge, from libraries, books, television, universities and sources in most cases without compensation to be sold back to subscribers for a fee. They argue it is \u201cfair use\u201d and requires no compensation.<\/p>\n

The ingredient to be found both in my voice piracies and the accumulation of \u201cbulk\u201d is their attitude, that they have found an abundant, no-cost source to fuel their second industrial revolution.<\/p>\n

And they don\u2019t even have to tell anyone how they do it.<\/p>\n

Once again our judicial system will have to sort things out. There are many proposed class-action lawsuits based on two Illinois laws that prohibit using AI to create and distribute \u201cdigital replicas\u201d of an individual\u2019s voice, image or likeness. And one that prohibits using audio without notice and permission to train an AI voice model to generate synthetic voices.<\/p>\n

Similar federal legislation supported by the entertainment union SAG\/AFTRA, entitled No Fakes Act, was approved by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and now awaits a vote by the full Senate.<\/p>\n

We are in a time when AI can replicate one\u2019s talent and use it without permission. If many can get my voice for free, it soon will have no value for compensation. That can kill a career. In my case, it\u2019s a 60-year career that\u2019s been carefully crafted with integrity and ethical standards. They are stealing not only my voice but also my journalistic reputation. I\u2019m not going to give it away.<\/p>\n

Bill Kurtis is a television producer and host and a former CBS network and WBBM-Ch. 2 news anchor. This article was published by the Chicago Tribune and distributed by Project Syndicate.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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They appeared like mushrooms after a rain. No announcement of their coming. No explanation. Like Stanley Kubrick\u2019s monolith in the desert. No warning that they would promise to give us the world so they could take our jobs \u2014 our soul. Data centers \u2014 the home of artificial intelligence. I\u2019m a television journalist, a narrator….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korea","category-trending-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t