What happened

A Berlin court found that a YouTuber developed and used an AI-generated voice clone in two political videos that commercially exploited the voice of a German dubbing actor, thereby violating the actor's personality rights, specifically his “right to his own voice."

The court emphasised that even though the voice was AI-generated, the resemblance was strong enough to cause confusion among viewers, many of whom believed the actor had participated in the production.  

It also emphasised that voices, like images or names, have commercial and legal protection in Germany, and that the cloning was particularly harmful in this instance as it served to promote the YouTuber’s merchandise, misattributing commercial value and recognition without the actor’s consent.

There was no determination on whether the AI model was trained using original recordings, but the resemblance was considered substantial. 

Why it happened

Advanced AI voice technology is freely available online, enabling the YouTuber to exploit the dubbing artist quickly and easily to sell products to their 190,000 followers on the video sharing platform.