Gayanne Potter is one among Britain’s most recognisable voices – behind adverts for the likes of Estee Lauder, Apple, LBC radio, and B&Q.
Now, a man-made intelligence (AI) model of her voice is getting used on Scotland’s nationalised prepare community, ScotRail.
However the skilled voiceover artist says she had no thought she had been reworked right into a robotic till a buddy known as her final week.
“I used to be devastated, I used to be livid, I really feel utterly violated,” she informed Sky Information.
“My voice is my job, and I must be allowed to know who I’m working with and what I’m engaged on.”
Ms Potter’s voice has been utilized in adverts for the likes of Estee Lauder, Apple, LBC radio, and B&Q
Ms Potter, who lives on the outskirts of Edinburgh, believes the incident could be traced again to a job she accomplished in the course of the COVID pandemic with Swedish firm ReadSpeaker, the place she recorded scripts for the visually impaired.
Ms Potter alleges she was unaware the contract allowed her voice to be bought as a part of AI years later.
Sky Information has seen correspondence the place the corporate appeared to reassure Ms Potter’s brokers they “would by no means promote them (the recordings) to anyone else”.
Responding to considerations, ReadSpeaker insisted there was a “very clear contract” that enables it to “use… synthesised voices for companies and organisations”.
ScotRail unveiled its new AI announcer, nicknamed “Iona”, on board the railway community in Scotland this month.
The brand new know-how has drawn criticism for mispronouncing place names, with officers asking the general public to “give it time”.
Ms Potter says she had no thought she had been reworked right into a robotic till a buddy known as her final week
Sky Information joined Ms Potter on board a prepare as she mentioned the scenario.
She mentioned: “I actually did not know. ScotRail by no means approached me, ReadSpeaker by no means approached me.
“ScotRail have mentioned it isn’t an actual individual. It’s a actual individual, and I’m proper right here.
“It is a actual menace. I’ve labored actually laborious for the previous 20 years and constructed belief with purchasers I work with. And now to have my voice on this dreadful robotic is demeaning to me.”
She added: “I don’t consent to my voice knowledge getting used. To seek out out that my private human knowledge is getting used on the trains is appalling.
“I really feel like my knowledge is being burgled. I’ve no management over it.”
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Union Fairness, which represents employees within the inventive industries, helps Ms Potter combat her case.
Liam Budd, industrial official for recorded media at Fairness, mentioned: “This can be very exploitative for firms to make use of and commercialise voice recordings to create digital replicas of artists from contracts which pre-date the event of generative AI or weren’t drafted explicitly for this function.
“Gayanne is immediately competing in a market with a low-quality clone of her personal voice that she claims was developed with out her knowledgeable and specific consent.
“Not solely is that this distressing for her, however it could characterize an infringement of our members’ knowledge safety and different rights.”
Roy Lindemann, chief advertising and marketing officer at ReadSpeaker, dismissed questions from Sky Information about Ms Potter’s needs to withdraw her voice from being bought.
He mentioned the agency was conscious of Ms Potter’s considerations, including: “ReadSpeaker and Ms Potter have a contract concerning the usage of her voice.
“ReadSpeaker has comprehensively addressed Ms Potter’s considerations together with her authorized consultant a number of instances previously.”
ScotRail, which is owned by the Scottish authorities, mentioned it had “no plans” to take away its “Iona” AI announcer voice system and rejected questions on Ms Potter’s considerations.
Phil Campbell, ScotRail buyer operations director, mentioned: “We’re at all times methods to enhance the shopper journey expertise, and we all know how vital each on-train and at-station bulletins are.
“Using an automatic voice permits us to have extra management over the bulletins being made, ensures consistency for purchasers, and offers us flexibility to make modifications at brief discover.”
A Transport Scotland spokesperson mentioned: “Whereas sub-contracts are a matter for ScotRail, the Scottish authorities expects it, as a publicly managed organisation, to make sure all agreements entered into are throughout the parameters of Public Sector Procurement steering and meet Honest Work ideas.
“This consists of the usage of AI know-how.”
