They stole my voice with AI

Listen to this clip:

I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty familiar. I mean I would like you to subscribe to my YouTube channel. But that's the Jeff Geerling channel, not Elecrow, where the clip above is from. I never said the words that are in that video.

Someone emailed me a link to Elecrow's video and said it sounded off. I'm guessing at least some of the thousands of people who watched the video thought I agreed to voice some Elecrow videos, since I talk about some of the same topics on my channel.

I even reviewed one of their products a few years ago, the CrowPi 2. I didn't have a bad relationship with them in the past. They make electronics and even Raspberry Pi accessories.

There's also a video version of this blog post, if you don't enjoy reading, and wish to hear the clip embedded above in context, for a direct comparison with my natural voice.

And I don't know if I can prove it, I mean how can you? But I'm pretty sure they fed my YouTube videos into some AI voice clone tool, then used my voice to narrate multiple series of promotional tutorials, like this one on ESP32, and this one on RP2040.

That's... not cool.

I remember when OpenAI practically cloned Scarlett Johanssen's voice, but I thought the fallout from that would lead to companies being careful about the AI voices they use for things like product demos and tutorials...

Apparently not.

I haven't decided what to do. I mean, like I said, I haven't had a problem with Elecrow in the past. I'm hoping beyond all hope it was an honest mistake and they didn't even realize it was my voice.

But beyond that, the worse thing is there isn't any legal precedent for unauthorized AI voice cloning, at least not that I'm aware of. There is precedent for not using someone's voice in commercial works without their consent. Look up Midler vs. Ford.

I don't know if I want to do anything with lawyers, because that costs money and right now I'm just trying to keep my old Camry running through the end of the year. And I'm not even sure non-consensual voice cloning is against YouTube's Terms of Service.

But the main thing is, I want to make a point—that's why I'm writing this post:

You can't just steal someone's voice or likeness, and slap it on your products or videos.

You should hire a voiceover artist, or pay a content creator to work with you. A lot of brands actually do that! Just... don't steal my voice and use it to promote your product.

Update: I sent an email tonight, requesting Elecrow take down at least the two series with this AI voice that sounds like me, after a few people suggested doing so. I also asked if it was intentional that the voice sounded like me, or if they trained the voice ('cloned' it) on my own video or audio content. We'll see if they respond!

I'd rather start on that foot than any YouTube takedowns or legal action, like I said, I've had no trouble in the past, and I'm not 100% certain this was intentional.

I am 100% aware Elecrow knows of my channel, though, as I have over 43 emails back and forth with five different Elecrow marketing reps, spanning from 2020 to today (22 of those emails are from this year). They have even asked if they could do a paid partnership in the past, too:

Hi Jeff, can we talk about a paid partnership? I am looking forward to your reply.

(April 2, 2024 email from Elecrow marketing rep)