AI Startup Lovo Sued for Allegedly Using Actors’ Voices Without Consent

Lovo, an AI startup based in Berkeley, is being sued in a class action lawsuit by voice actors Paul Lehrman and Linnea Sage. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, accuses Lovo of using the actors’ voices without their consent to create Genny, an AI voice generator. Lehrman and Sage allege they were deceived into providing voice samples through freelance websites, believing the recordings would be used for internal or academic purposes. They were paid $1200 and $400 respectively, but later discovered their voices were cloned and used publicly without further compensation.

The suit claims that Lovo used their voices for various commercial applications and seeks to stop the company from using voices without proper consent and payment. The actors also aim to represent others whose voices were similarly misused. Lovo, which charges a subscription fee for its AI voice generator, promotes the tool for creating ads, corporate training videos, and other applications. The lawsuit also mentions that Lovo advertises the ability to mimic celebrity voices for entertainment purposes.

Lehrman and Sage’s voices were eventually removed from Lovo’s site after legal complaints, but the lawsuit alleges that the voices remain accessible to those who previously downloaded them. The suit accuses Lovo of fraud, false advertising, and violating New York and federal laws related to the commercial use of voices without consent.