Journalists and Voice Actors Sue Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta Over Unauthorized AI Voice Training
Summary
Nine class-action lawsuits are filed in Chicago's federal court by journalists, podcasters, and voice actors accusing Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta of illegally using their voices without consent to train AI models, marking a bold new frontier for Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act.
Key Points
- Nine class-action lawsuits are filed in Chicago's federal court this week by well-known journalists, podcasters, and voice actors accusing tech giants including Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta of illegally using their voices without consent to train AI models.
- The lawsuits are being brought under Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, or BIPA, marking a new frontier for the law, which has previously secured millions of dollars in settlements mostly over employee fingerprint collection.
- Plaintiffs argue that voiceprints, like fingerprints, are permanent and irrevocable biometric identifiers, and that none of them were ever asked for or gave consent for their voices to be ingested into AI training systems.