ElevenLabs unveiled its Iconic Voice Marketplace, a new platform that lets brands license the voices of public figures like Liza Minnelli and Michael Caine for use in marketing and entertainment. What about Morgan Freeman?!
Michael Caine announced the partnership in a promotional video powered by his AI voice replica, claiming that the goal wasn't to replace human creativity but to “amplify” it with AI.
The marketplace allows brands to negotiate directly with the owners of the voices and their talent representatives before using their replicas, so not everyone can use the celebrity voices for anything they'd like.
Ready for the weirdest part?
The weirdest part of Iconic Voice Marketplace is that it includes voices from deceased celebrities like Judy Garland, Baby Ruth, and Maya Angelou, after having partnered with the estates. In fact, most of the voices are from deceased public figures! See for yourself.
IP rights aside, is it respectful of the dead to sell their voices to promote products that came out decades after they lived? And is it a good look for a brand to use a deceased celebrity's voice in their marketing campaign? Are customers going to be like, “Is that Dorothy from Wizard of Oz promoting a weight loss program?”
I can rationalize the use case of bringing these deceased actors and public figures to life through their AI-cloned voices in documentaries about them, perhaps taking their written words and turning them into spoken voice for the purpose of storytelling. However I can't get behind using a deceased person's voice for marketing. That's just off putting!
What are your thoughts? Hit reply and let me know.