Misuse of AI-generated voice for jokes causes issues! Taipei Voice Actors Guild warns of legal action, netizens hurriedly delete posts

Taipei Voice Acting Union Warns Netizens Not to Use Voices for Malicious AI Creations, Emphasizing Voice Rights Are Legally Protected. The Union Requests Content Removal; Otherwise, Legal Action Will Be Taken. Currently, the netizen’s posts have been deleted.

Taipei Voice Acting Union Warns Netizens Using AI-Generated Voices of Voice Actors

Generative AI technology lowers the barrier to producing audio content, leading to unauthorized voice creation content appearing on social media.

On January 12, the Taipei Voice Actors’ Professional Union issued a statement, warning a netizen who used a Taiwanese voice actor’s voice for AI generation and created inappropriate and malicious parody posts.

The union pointed out that any unauthorized use of voices and AI-generated content constitutes infringement, and using voices for malicious secondary creation severely undermines the professionalism and dignity of voice actors.

The union demanded that the netizen immediately remove all related content and stop sharing and distributing it. If such behavior continues, the union will pursue legal responsibility, including possible legal action. After the warning, the netizen has deleted the controversial posts containing AI-generated content.

Image source: Threads Taipei Voice Acting Union Warns Netizens Using AI-Generated Voices of Voice Actors

Voice Actor Accuses Partner of Stealing His Voice, and Doing It Openly

Senior Taiwanese voice actor Maggie Luo posted at the end of last year, accusing a long-term partner company of using her voice samples without permission and creating reference audio via AI, which was then provided to other voice actors for recording reference.

Maggie Luo immediately called the company to protest. She stated that she had provided audition services, and if the client needed the full version, they should budget for the voice actor to record the Motion Board, rather than stealing her voice without permission.

The company openly stated during the call: “Yes, we used AI, but the results are very poor,” which made her worry that if the AI results were good, the company might directly steal and use her voice without informing her.

Image source: Threads Taiwanese Senior Voice Actor Maggie Luo Accuses Partner of Stealing Her Voice for AI Reference

Another Taiwanese voice actor, Wang Qiao Qiao, also responded, saying that similar incidents seem to have happened multiple times in the industry, and many colleagues have encountered such infringement issues, indicating that the Taiwanese audio-visual industry still needs to strengthen awareness of voice rights.

Japan Implements Voiceprint Verification to Seek Coexistence of AI and Voice Actors

In response to the issues of AI voice actors and voice theft, Japan’s nearby voice acting industry (voice actors) is actively exploring ways to coexist with AI.

Due to the serious problem of voice theft in Japan, AI speech synthesis company ElevenLabs announced the adoption of the international standard C2PA, combined with its existing VoiceCAPTCHA identity verification technology.

This technology adds a layer of tamper-proof metadata to digital audio, recording the history of creation and editing, helping external parties identify the source and authenticity of audio.

Famous voice actor Yuki Kaji, who voiced Eren in Attack on Titan, is a member of the “NO MORE Unrestricted AI Generation” group advocating for banning AI misuse. He highly praises voiceprint verification technology, calling it a savior for protecting voice rights.

Image source: ElevenLabs Press Release Voice Actor Yuki Kaji Praises Voiceprint Verification Technology as a Savior for Voice Rights

Recently, Japan’s well-established voice actor agency 81 Produce also collaborated with the above company to legally register the voices of over 400 voice actors. Using AI technology, a single voice actor’s original voice can be transformed into dubbing in 29 languages including English, Chinese, and Spanish.

81 Produce calls this model the “Hybrid Voice Actor,” which preserves the original charm and performance details of the voice actor while breaking language barriers to enter the global market.

Further reading:
Dragon Ball Goku Speaks Chinese? Japanese Voice Actor Agency to Launch AI Voice Assistant, Masako Nozawa to Voice