What happened

Two artists, Paul Skye Lehrman and Linnea Sage, claim they were misled into providing voice samples through freelance website Fiverr under the impression the recordings would be used solely for internal or academic purposes, rather than commercial AI training or cloning. 

They were paid USD 1200 and USD 400, respectively, for reading scripts and were told the recordings would be used internally or for academic purposes. 

Years later, they found out their voices were cloned and used publicly without their consent or additional payment. Lehrman discovered that his voice had been used to narrate a YouTube video about Russian military equipment. He also heard himself being interviewed as an AI-generated character on an episode of the Deadline “Strike Talk” podcast. 

The lawsuit alleges Lovo sold these cloned voices to thousands of customers for commercial uses such as ads, films, and presentations without proper compensation or permission. 

Seeking damages of at least USD 5 million for the class, the actors have accused Lovo of fraud, false advertising and violating their publicity rights. 

Lovo refused to comment publicly on the allegations to journalists and others.

Why it happened

It appears Lovo's founders may have sought to exploit known legal loopholes, including relating to licensing and copyright, to use the actors' voices without their knowledge or consent for commercial purposes.